Investment team has rebranded and consultancy team launched as JDM Retail.

The investment and consultancy teams of the CWM business have decided against joining CBRE, React News can reveal.

The five-person investment team, which is led by equity partners Jim Remfry and Ben Simpson, has rebranded as Clifton Partnership. The make-up of the team remains unchanged and it will continue to operate as normal in the retail investment space.

CWM’s recently formed out-of-town team, made up of two senior leavers from JLL – Mark Rudman and Nick McConnell – has also declined to join CBRE.

CWM’s retail consultancy service line, led by Jonathan De Mello, has spun out as a standalone business called JDM Retail.

The team also includes associate partner Louis Brewer and analyst Dominic Robson.

Jonathan De Mello, founder and CEO, JDM Retail said:

“As we move forward into a post-COVID world, retailers are looking to expand, and the investment markets are ramping up. There is absolutely every reason to be optimistic about the retail and property sectors, and it is in that vein that myself and my team have decided to rebrand to JDM Retail, offering a completely independent and most importantly best in class service to our fantastic client base of occupiers and property investors.”

The agency team, run and wholly owned by CWM’s founder and managing partner Scott Murdoch, has concluded its deal to join CBRE.

Murdoch will be appointed chairman of UK retail and will work closely with CBRE’s UK retail head, Rhodri Davies.

CBRE expects the CWM team to significantly strengthen its retail and leisure real estate capabilities across the UK. The acquisition is in line with its expectation of a revival of bricks-and-mortar retail in the near future, as reported by React News late last year.

The four parts of the CWM business – agency, in-town investment, out of town, and consulting – were held in separate equity ownership structures, which CBRE had been negotiating with to see if a deal could be pieced together to get the other three components to move across with Murdoch’s agency business. Those discussions have now ended.