INTERVIEW: BNP Paribas Real Estate's new UK leadership

Towards the end of 2017, we finally got confirmation of the marriage we had long been waiting for. No, not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but BNP Paribas Real Estate and Strutt & Parker.

It was a flirtation that had been talked about at several MIPIMs but always denied. But in August last year, the two companies finally confirmed that they were indeed merging, that BNP Paribas Real Estate UK boss John Slade was stepping down and that Strutt & Parker’s Andy Martin, who had been preparing to follow partnership rules and retire, would lead the merged company.

But while Slade had an office to himself while trying to grow the French bank-backed firm, Martin shares his with deputy chief executive and Frenchman (although you won’t necessarily know it from his accent) Etienne Prongue.

Could buying a traditionally British partnership and physically sitting an Englishman and a Frenchman together be the solution to BNP Paribas Real Estate’s long held dreams of finally cracking the UK?

Listen in to find out more and pick up EG on 24 February to read the interview