The financial investor Permira takes over the majority in the Hamburg real estate agent Engel & Völkers.
In the deal, the Völkers family and part of the management will keep almost 40 percent of the shares, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.
Company founder Christian Völkers becomes chairman of the advisory board.
A purchase price for the deal, which should be completed by the end of the year, was not mentioned.
In financial circles it was said that the company valuation was just under 700 million euros, the majority stake would then be worth a good 400 million euros.
11,500 real estate consultants
Engel & Völkers, founded in Hamburg in 1977, specializes in upscale real estate.
Engel & Völkers quickly grew from a villa on Elbchaussee via the franchise system.
Today around 11,500 independent real estate consultants work for the broker at 900 locations in more than 30 countries on a common platform.
This year, sales with brokerage fees of over one billion euros are expected, said CEO Sven Odia.
Engel & Vökers now wants to digitize the business with the help of Permira and stimulate growth via the platform.
The expansion also focuses on markets such as Great Britain for the broker, who has so far been strongly represented in holiday regions such as Spain.
Due to the strong brand, Engel & Völkers has "access to high-quality and exclusive sales mandates and has thus been able to establish a leading market position," said Permira.
The number of real estate consultants on the platform has grown vigorously and holds considerable growth potential.
In the course of digitization, among other things, the offer for real estate consultants should be improved and the technologicalization of internal processes in marketing, mandate acquisition and the recruitment of real estate consultants advanced.
Permira, headquartered in London, invests in companies through equity funds in order to increase their profitability and to earn money from them in the medium term. The financial investor took over the Göppingen-based remote maintenance specialist Teamviewer in 2014, brought it to the stock exchange in 2019 and then sold some of its shares - good business thanks to the higher share price.