Dougherty Financial shareholders sell majority stake to Canada firm

Mike Dougherty

Canada-based Colliers International plans to acquire an unspecified “controlling interest” in four subsidiaries of Minneapolis-based Dougherty Financial Group. The privately held firm was founded more than 40 years ago by CEO Mike Dougherty.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed by publicly traded Colliers.

Colliers said 250-employee, nine-office Dougherty, which originates more than $2.5 billion of real estate loans annually and services more than $7 billion, is projected to generate 2019 revenue of $100 million.

“This investment firmly establishes Colliers as one of the leading players in multifamily debt and public finance capital markets in the U.S., marking a significant milestone as we continue to grow and develop our full-service capital markets capabilities,” said CEO Gil Borok of Colliers International-U.S. “Combined with our current capabilities in investment sales and debt capital markets, this acquisition provides Colliers important depth, experience and growth opportunities to provide our clients with the best solutions in debt finance and advisory services.”

Dougherty’s senior leadership will continue to manage operations as “significant shareholders, maintaining the high-quality service clients expect with the additional backing of a global platform.” Colliers said in a statement. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2020.

At closing, all Dougherty mortgage banking activities will be renamed Colliers Mortgage and will continue to provide specialty debt financing for multifamily, healthcare and senior housing real estate through U.S. Government-Sponsored entities. This includes origination, underwriting, asset management and loan servicing for Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Colliers Mortgage will also provide commercial property lending to institutional investors as well as loan syndication.

All securities operations of Dougherty will be called Colliers Securities, providing brokerage, investment banking, capital markets services, public finance services and other real estate related activities.

“Our partnership with Colliers is an exciting next step in our evolution,” said Dougherty executive David Juran, who will assume the role of chief executive and the largest management shareholder of Colliers Mortgage and Colliers Securities. “Our firm has enjoyed tremendous success over the years since our founding by Mike Dougherty. We look forward to accelerating our success and growth trajectory in the future by leveraging Colliers’ best-in-class platforms and relationships for the benefit of our clients.”

Dougherty, 78, a one-time college dropout who then served in the Army before graduating from the University of St. Thomas on the G.I. Bill in 1966, also worked in national Democratic politics in the early 1960s and before joining the former Dain Bosworth as a bond-sales trainee in 1967. He left in 1977 to start what became Dougherty Financial with two former partners.

Dougherty has proven an active builder-and-seller of companies within the Dougherty universe over the years. In 1997, Dougherty sold its Voyageur Companies, a Minneapolis-based mutual fund manager of tax-exempt government securities, which Dougherty started in 1983, to Lincoln National of Indiana for about $70 million.

Dougherty also has been a multi-million dollar donor to St. Thomas.

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