Much has been written lately, including here, about the recent disruption in the commercial real estate credit markets. Things have most certainly changed since August as CMBS issuances have declined dramatically (securities issued in Augusted totaled $34.4 billion but reached only $6.2 billion in October). However, as the market continues to be viewed as a global market by investors, deal flow is moving forward outside of the United States.

At EDR we have traditionally been a company that serves the U.S. market only. However in just the past 6 months, we have suddenly found ourselves participating in due diligence projects all over the globe. In fact, the total number of countries where EDR has provided some service has now reached 20. These countries include Canada, Mexico, Germany, Russia, Spain, Bahrain and South Korea. In each case the reason EDR became involved in a cross border project was because the environmental consultant used the Parcel application to author their due diligence reports.

Anecdotally we are also hearing more often that our clients are being pulled overseas to investigate properties. In most cases these clients are serving a corporation or global real estate investment operation that is expanding or diversifying overseas holdings. This activity is not limited only to the largest environmental professional firms with offices in other countries. Rather, U.S. based firms who only have offices in America are also being asked by their clients to jump onto airplanes and travel abroad to conduct Phase 1 work. The opportunity for global expansion therefore appears to apply to a large cross section of the U.S. environmental professional marketplace.

As further evidence of these changing times, one client recently asked EDR to attend an international due diligence workshop in Europe. At this event the client flew in their practice leaders from the U.S and three European counties. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss how they were going to coordinate future portfolio projects with properties in multiple countries. The expectation here is that on these projects the quality of work and turn around times are equal to those expected on U.S. based work. Clearly quite a challenge given the availability of information and other dynamics involved with working several time zones away from home.

During an age of global capital flows this only makes sense and was to be expected at some point. What many other industries have been experiencing for years is now reaching our industry. Some environmental professionals are clearly embracing this opportunity and are already seeing the payoff.