JLL closes acquisition of Building Engines for $300 million

CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2021 – JLL (NYSE: JLL)announced today that it closed its acquisition of Building Engines, the market-leading building operations platform that transforms how properties are run, provides exceptional experiences for operators and tenants and improves net operating income (NOI) across the world’s most successful commercial real estate (CRE) portfolios. JLL acquired Building Engines for a cash purchase price of approximately $300 million.

The acquisition reflects JLL’s unique commitment to applying technology to solve real estate’s biggest challenges—in this case, the siloed ecosystem of property management technologies. Building Engines’ cloud platform streamlines everything from work orders to maintenance scheduling and tenant engagement in one place.

“Our vision is to unite the fragmented property management software ecosystem and make Building Engines the building operations system of record,” said Sharad Rastogi, president of JLLT. “With this acquisition, we see a major opportunity to bring the property management software ecosystem together in one easy-to-use, open platform for real estate investors.”

Building Engines already serves more than 1,000 customers across 35,000 buildings, including many JLL customers, who will now benefit from tighter alignment between the two companies. JLL also intends to leverage Building Engines’ open API infrastructure to integrate the platform more broadly with the greater real estate ecosystem, including the product portfolio developed by JLL Technologies (JLLT), its division that builds and invests in technology, and products it invests in through venture arm JLL Spark.

“At Building Engines, our goal is to create an amazing experience in every building worldwide,” said Curran. “So, joining JLLT, the leading technology team in commercial real estate was a natural next step. By tapping into the scale of a global firm like JLL, we can accelerate expansion of our cloud platform that meets the complete needs of property managers and investors.”

Building Engines’ more than 150 employees have joined JLLT. CEO Tim Curran, who joined Building Engines as a board director in 2011 and was named CEO in 2017, serves as Executive Managing Director, Building Engines, reporting to Rastogi. Building Engines will retain its name and continue to serve existing customers and real estate investors worldwide to help them maximize the value of their assets.

William Blair served as the exclusive financial advisor to Building Engines in this transaction.