GVA brand returns

Real estate advisory business Bilfinger GVA has been renamed simply ‘GVA’, following its acquisition by private equity company EQT earlier this year.

The firm was sold by Bilfinger to EQT in August, as part of the disposal of its wider building and facilities division.

Last month, this division was renamed Apleona. Yesterday, GVA confirmed at its annual directors’ conference that the ‘Bilfinger’ brand would be dropped.

The GVA name has gone through various iterations over the past 20 years. Called Grimley & Son since its foundation in the 1800s, the company became GVA Grimley in 1998, adopted the shortened brand of GVA in 2011, and merged with Bilfinger to become Bilfinger GVA in 2014.

GVA has offices in Manchester and Liverpool. The Manchester office has 185 staff, and there are 33 in Liverpool.

Apleona’s headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany, and is active in more than 30 countries with a broad real estate and industrial advisory service.

Chris Cheap, senior director in GVA’s Manchester office, said: “Confirmation of our name change is an important milestone for our business. GVA is a name that stands for high quality innovative property advice and this is no more apparent than here in Manchester and the North West where our people are second to none. This is an exciting time for our Manchester office and implementing our new branding is part of an ambitious growth plan.”