BGC Partners' Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to Acquire Computerized Facility Integration, LLC

NEW YORK, May 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) ("BGC Partners," "BGC," or "the Company"), a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Computerized Facility Integration, LLC ("CFI").  CFI is a premier real estate strategic consulting and systems integration firm that manages over three billion square feet globally for Fortune 500 companies, owner-occupiers, government agencies, healthcare and higher education clients.  CFI provides corporate real estate, facilities management, and enterprise asset management information consulting and technology solutions that yield hundreds of millions of dollars in cost-savings for its client base on an annual basis.  Upon close, the acquisition is expected to complement and drive future growth opportunities within Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's ("NGKF") Global Corporate Services business and within CFI's extensive client base.  Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"This acquisition gives NGKF a distinct, competitive advantage and the talent and resources to offer our clients rapid and seamless advisory services ranging from operations strategy to real estate implementation," commented Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer of NGKF. "Our Global Corporate Services clients will greatly benefit from CFI's extensive suite of information management, technology planning, hosting and cloud computing services, and systems integration services, to name a few.  Together, we'll be well positioned to deliver superior results to our clients."

CFI is a consulting and systems integration firm working exclusively in real estate and facilities management with a focus on Integrated Workplace Management Systems and Enterprise Asset Management. Its headquarters are in Southfield, Michigan and CFI has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Frankfurt.  The company employs 140 employees and contractors and provides end-to-end consulting, implementation, hosting, and technology support services to its clients, including Fortune 500 and top tier firms across all major industries, including financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail, chemical, manufacturing, government agencies, and higher education.

"CFI's exceptional strategic real estate consulting and technology services will complement and enhance our business, representing a six-fold increase in our real estate technology and data systems," commented Michael Ippolito, Chairman of Global Corporate Services at NGKF.  "We look forward to combining CFI's exhaustive repository of data with our analytics and subject matter experts to deliver measurable and sustainable performance improvement for business operations worldwide.  Together we will offer clients an all-encompassing strategy, integration and service delivery platform to increase global operating efficiencies, maximize returns from their real estate infrastructure investments, and ultimately drive value to their bottom line."

"I'm confident our employees and clients will benefit greatly from being part of NGKF, which consistently attracts top talent, offers a vast spectrum of real estate services and resources, and has earned an excellent industry reputation," said Robert Verdun, President and Founder of Computerized Facility Integration, LLC. "We look forward to leveraging the best of both firms to better serve our clients and deliver superior world-class services."

About Computerized Facility Integration, LLC
For more than 25 years, CFI has been enabling real estate owner-occupier and tenant clients to meet and overcome the challenges associated with the asset and facility lifecycle. In addition, CFI has advised on and implemented business process improvement and supporting technology solutions required to help clients develop and realize their strategic vision. 

CFI's proven processes support organizations by improving productivity while reducing the total cost of real estate occupancy. CFI Consultants have deep global experience in all aspects of the strategic asset planning process, including visioning, facilities organization redesign, process re-engineering, outsourcing, benchmarking, total cost of ownership analytics and portfolio-wide master planning and restructuring.

About Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF's 12,000 professionals operate from more than 330 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF's strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF's full-service platform comprises BGC's real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com. NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc.

About BGC Partners, Inc.
BGC Partners is a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets.  Products include fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commercial real estate, commodities, futures, and structured products. BGC also provides a wide range of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, processing, information, and other back-office services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions. Through its BGC Trader and BGC Market Data brands, BGC offers financial technology solutions, market data, and analytics related to numerous financial instruments and markets. BGC is the majority-owner of GFI Group Inc. (OTC: GFIG), a leading intermediary and provider of trading technologies and support services to the global OTC and listed markets. Through the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brand, BGC offers a wide range of commercial real estate services, including leasing and corporate advisory, investment sales and financial services, consulting, project and development management, and property and facilities management. BGC's customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, property owners, real estate developers, and investment firms.

BGC's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP).  BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA).  BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit http://www.bgcpartners.com.  

BGC, BGC Trader, Newmark, Grubb & Ellis, and Grubb are trademarks and service marks of BGC Partners, Inc. and/or its affiliates.  Knight Frank is a service mark of Knight Frank (Nominees) Limited. Trayport is a trademark or registered trademark of Trayport Limited and/or its affiliates. FENICS and FENICS.COM are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fenics Software Inc. and/or its affiliates. 

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements by BGC Partners
Statements in this document regarding BGC Partners' business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Except as required by law, BGC undertakes no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.  For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see BGC's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors set forth in our public filings, including our most recent Form 10-K and any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Form 10-Q or Form 8-K filings.

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SOURCE BGC Partners, Inc.

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