C&L expands national property valuation capabilities.

Only nine months after its acquisition of the New Jersey-based national appraisal firm L. W. Ellwood & Company, Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P. has scooped up yet another well-established and respected group specializing in property valuation. The group is led by Del Kendall who, prior to this move, acted as Chief Operating Officer of Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC).

Patrick R. Leardo, Coopers & Lybrand's real estate industry chairman, has announced that, effective immediately, the newly acquired group has merged with Cooper's valuation division, L. W. Ellwood & Company. The new addition will join Cooper's existing real estate contingent in Houston.

Kendall, named Director, and his staff of six, will work collaboratively with New Jersey-based Robert Ruggles III, MAI and CRE, and Dennis H. Anderson, CRE, as well as New York City-based Peter Goodell, to fine-tune Coopers & Lybrand's appraisal capabilities in order to offer more comprehensive and diversified services to large institutional clients.

"This acquisition, like that of L. W. Ellwood, is integral to our long-term strategy to significantly enhance and expand Coopers & Lybrand's national real estate practice," said Leardo. "To achieve that goal, our mission is to acquire or otherwise associate with highly regarded, strategically-located appraisal firms, which are staffed by the nation's most talented professionals. Like other service providers, an appraisal firm's most valuable assets are its people. In order to provide in-depth services on complicated assignments to foreign and domestic pension funds, advisors, insurance companies, REITs, REMICs and CMBSs, we are committed to hiring the best and the brightest appraisers in the business."

Currently, Coopers & Lybrand's valuation division is evaluating a "REIT roll-up" - 14 portfolios which contain over 200 industrial properties nationwide - on behalf of Cabot Partners.

"These are unprecedented times in real estate and the appraisal industry," said Ruggles. "At a time when REITs are being valued daily on the capital markets, the traditional fundamentals of valuation are not as much in demand right now as are a wide array of other services including: due diligence for acquisitions, supply and demand analysis, market studies, litigation services, and bankruptcy consultancy. But the real estate market is cyclical, and when it eventually changes, determining true property values, and ascertaining how to maximize value will, once again figure more heavily in our work."

"Joining Coopers & Lybrand's valuation practice is a terrific opportunity for us to follow the growth in the industry, which is seeing services offered on a larger scale due to merges and acquisitions involving our clients," said Del Kendall, whose firm has appraised over $2 billion worth of regional malls, over 150 hotels, numerous office buildings, industrials, apartments, and other property types.

Del Kendall and his group, which joined RERC in 1992, had begun as Del Kendall & Associates, Inc. in December 1990. From 1987 through 1990, Kendall had been with Laventhal & Horwath, the largest of accounting's "second tier" firms, where he served as a Principal and Director of Appraisal Operations for the Houston office.

One of the world's leading professional services firms, Coopers & Lybrand L. L. P. provides services for enterprises in a wide range of industries. The firm offers its clients the expertise of more than 16,000 professionals and staff in offices located in 100 U.S. cities and, through the member firms of Coopers & Lybrand International, more than 70,000 people in 140 countries worldwide.