CBRE Group 10-K 2019-12-31

Filed 2020-03-02. 22 sections, 557K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON

What changed since the 2018-12-31 10-KNew, removed and reworded risk factor headings, then every item sentence by sentence.

Cover and table of contents

Was

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR

☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Transition Period from _______________ to _______________

Commission File Number 001-32205

CBRE GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware94-3391143
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
400 South Hope Street, 25th Floor Los Angeles, California90071
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)
(213) 613-3333
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each classTrading Symbol(s)Name of each exchange on which registered
Class A Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share“CBRE”New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☒Accelerated filer ☐Non-accelerated filer ☐Smaller reporting company ☐Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of June 28, 2019, the aggregate market value of Class A Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $17.3 billion based upon the last sales price on June 28, 2019 on the New York Stock Exchange of $51.30 for the registrant’s Class A Common Stock.

As of February 14, 2020, the number of shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding was 334,790,842.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the proxy statement for the registrant’s 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held May 14, 2020 are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

CBRE GROUP, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
PART I
Item 1.Business1
Item 1A.Risk Factors7
Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments22
Item 2.Properties23
Item 3.Legal Proceedings23
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures23
PART II
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities24
Item 6.Selected Financial Data27
Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations29
Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk49
Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data51
Item 9.Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure118
Item 9A.Controls and Procedures118
Item 9B.Other Information120
PART III
Item 10.Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance121
Item 11.Executive Compensation121
Item 12.Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters121
Item 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence121
Item 14.Principal Accounting Fees and Services121
PART IV
Item 15.Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules121
Item 16.Form 10-K Summary121
Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts122
SIGNATURES128

PART I

Item 1. Business.

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Company Overview

CBRE Group, Inc. is a Delaware corporation. References to “CBRE,” “the company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to CBRE Group, Inc. and include all of its consolidated subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated or the context requires otherwise.

We are the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, based on 2019 revenue, with leading global market positions in our leasing, property sales, occupier outsourcing and valuation businesses. As of December 31, 2019, we operated in more than 530 offices worldwide and have more than 100,000 employees, excluding independent affiliates. We serve clients in more than 100 countries.

Our business is focused on providing services to real estate occupiers and investors. For occupiers, we provide facilities management, project management, transaction (both property sales and leasing) and consulting services, among others. For investors, we provide capital markets (property sales, mortgage origination, sales and servicing), leasing, investment management, property management, valuation and development services, among others. We provide services under the following brand names: “CBRE” (real estate advisory and outsourcing services); “CBRE Global Investors” (investment management); “Trammell Crow Company” (U.S. development); “Telford Homes” (U.K. development) and “Hana” (flexible-space solutions).

Our revenue mix has shifted in recent years toward more contractual revenue as occupiers and investors increasingly prefer to purchase integrated, account-based services from firms that meet the full spectrum of their needs nationally and globally. We believe we are well-positioned to capture a substantial share of this growing market opportunity. We generate revenue from both management fees (large multi-year portfolio and per-project contracts) and commissions on transactions. Our contractual, fee-for-services businesses generally involve occupier outsourcing (including facilities and project management), property management, investment management, appraisal/valuation and loan servicing. In addition, our leasing services business line is largely recurring in nature over time.

In 2019, we generated revenue from a highly diversified base of clients, including more than 90 of the Fortune 100 companies. We have been an S&P 500 company since 2006 and in 2019 we were ranked #146 on the Fortune 500. We have been voted the most recognized commercial real estate brand in the Lipsey Company survey for 19 years in a row (including 2020). We have also been rated a World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute for seven consecutive years (including 2020), and are included in the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index and the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.

CBRE History

We will mark our 114th year of continuous operations in 2020, tracing our origins to a company founded in San Francisco in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. Since then, we have grown into the largest global commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2019 revenue) through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, including our recent acquisition of Telford Homes Plc, which closed in October 2019.

Our Business Segments and Primary Services

CBRE Group, Inc. is a holding company that conducts all of its operations through its indirect subsidiaries. CBRE Group, Inc. does not have any independent operations or employees. CBRE Services, Inc., our direct wholly-owned subsidiary, is also a holding company and is the primary obligor or issuer with respect to most of our long-term indebtedness.

We report our operations through the following business segments: (1) Advisory Services, (2) Global Workplace Solutions and (3) Real Estate Investments.

Advisory Services

Our Advisory Services segment provides a comprehensive range of services globally, including property leasing, capital markets (property sales and mortgage origination, sales and servicing), property management, project management services and valuation services. Most of our Advisory Services operations are conducted through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary CBRE, Inc. Our mortgage loan origination, sales and servicing operations, the vast majority of which are in the U.S., are conducted exclusively through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary operating under the name CBRE Capital Markets, Inc., or CBRE Capital Markets, and its affiliates.

The primary services within Advisory Services are further described below.

Leasing Services

We provide strategic advice and execution for owners/investors, and occupiers/tenants of real estate, primarily in connection with the leasing of office, industrial and retail space. In 2019, we negotiated leases valued at approximately $168.2 billion globally. While the majority of our leasing revenue is reported in the Advisory Services segment, we do earn leasing revenue for certain contractual occupier clients in the Global Workplace Solutions segment that arises as a direct result of a business relationship with that segment.

We generate significant business from account-based occupier clients, where we are retained to negotiate leases for all or a portion of their portfolio. This results in recurring revenue over time. We believe we are the market leader for leasing services in most leading U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau), including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami/South Florida, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland and Seattle.

Capital Markets

We offer clients property sales and mortgage services. The tight integration of these services helps to meet marketplace demand for comprehensive capital markets solutions. During 2019, we closed approximately $322.6 billion of capital markets transactions globally, including $264.6 billion of property sales transactions and $58.0 billion of mortgage originations and loan sales.

We are the leading property sales advisor globally. In the United States, we accounted for approximately 17% of investment sales transactions greater than $2.5 million across all property types in 2019, according to Real Capital Analytics. Our mortgage brokerage professionals arrange, originate and service commercial mortgage loans through relationships established with investment banking firms, national and regional banks, credit companies, insurance companies, U.S. Government-Sponsored Enterprises, or GSEs, and pension funds.

Globally, our loan origination and sales volume in 2019 was $58.0 billion, including approximately $19.5 billion for U.S. GSEs. Most of the GSE loans were financed through revolving warehouse credit lines through a CBRE subsidiary that is dedicated exclusively for this purpose and were substantially risk mitigated by either obtaining a contractual purchase commitment from the GSE or confirming a forward-trade commitment for the issuance and purchase of a mortgage-backed security to be secured by the loan. We also oversee a loan servicing portfolio, which totaled approximately $230.1 billion globally at year-end 2019.

In many countries that we operate in (including the United States), our real estate services professionals (both leasing and capital markets) are compensated primarily through commissions, which are payable upon completion of an assignment. This mitigates the effect of compensation, our largest expense, on our operating margins during difficult market conditions. We strive to retain top professionals through an attractive compensation program tied to productivity as well as investments in support resources, including professional development and training, market research and data/information, technology, branding and marketing.

Property and Project Management Services

We provide property management services on a contractual basis, primarily for owners of and investors in office, industrial and retail properties. These services include construction management, marketing, building engineering, accounting and financial services. As of December 31, 2019, we managed 2.6 billion square feet of properties globally for property owners/investors. We are compensated for our services through a monthly management fee earned based on either a specified percentage of the monthly rental income, rental receipts generated from the property under management or a fixed fee. We are also often reimbursed for our administrative and payroll costs directly attributable to the properties under management. Our management agreements with our property management services clients may be terminated by either party with notice generally ranging between 30 to 90 days; however, we have developed long-term relationships with many of these clients and the typical contract continues for multiple years. We believe our contractual relationships with these clients put us in an advantageous position to provide other services to them, including leasing, refinancing, disposition and appraisal.

Project management services are provided to owners, investors and occupiers of real estate in local markets. Revenues from project management services generally include fixed management fees, variable fees and incentive fees if certain agreed-upon performance targets are met. Revenues from project management may also include reimbursement of payroll and related costs for personnel providing the services and subcontracted vendor costs. While the majority of our project management revenue is reported in our Global Workplace Solutions segment, we also report one-off and non-contractual project management revenue in our Advisory Services segment. In 2019, project management revenue in our Advisory Services segment represented approximately 33% of total project management revenue for CBRE.

Valuation Services

We provide valuation services that include market-value appraisals, litigation support, discounted cash flow analyses, feasibility studies as well as consulting services such as property condition reports, hotel advisory and environmental consulting. Our valuation business has developed proprietary systems for data management, analysis and valuation report preparation, which we believe provide us with an advantage over our competitors. We believe that our valuation business is one of the largest in the commercial real estate industry. During 2019, we completed over 259,000 valuation, appraisal and advisory assignments, excluding residential valuations in Asia Pacific.

Global Workplace Solutions

Our Global Workplace Solutions segment provides a broad suite of integrated, contractually-based outsourcing services globally for occupiers of real estate, including facilities management, project management and transaction services (leasing and sales).

We believe the outsourcing of corporate real estate services is a long-term trend in our industry, with multi-national corporations, and other large occupiers of space utilizing global, full-service real estate firms to achieve better workplaces for their people, while attempting to lower their cost of occupancy. We typically enter into multi-year, often multi-service, outsourcing contracts with services delivered via dedicated account teams and/or an on-demand basis. The key outsourcing services offered through this business segment are described below.

Facilities Management Services

Facilities Management involves the day-to-day management of client-occupied space for traditional office space, such as headquarter buildings, regional offices and administrative offices, as well as facilities serving specialized industries, such as data centers, life science and medical facilities, distribution warehouses, government facilities and retail stores. Contracts for facilities management services are often structured so that we are reimbursed for client-dedicated personnel costs and subcontracted vendor costs as well as associated overhead expenses plus a monthly fee, and in some cases, annual incentives tied to agreed-upon performance targets, with any penalties typically capped. In addition, we have contracts for facilities management services based on fixed-fee unit prices or guaranteed maximum prices. Fixed-fee contracts are typically structured where an agreed-upon scope of work is delivered for a fixed price while guaranteed maximum price contracts are structured with an agreed upon scope of work that will be provided to the client for a not-to-exceed price. We furnish facilities management services

to clients with single or multiple-location assets as well as regional, national and global portfolios. As of December 31, 2019, we managed approximately 4.2 billion square feet of facilities on behalf of occupiers.

Project Management Services

Project management services are typically provided on a portfolio-wide or programmatic basis. Revenues from project management services generally include fixed management fees, variable fees, lump sum and incentive fees if certain agreed-upon performance targets are met. Revenues from project management may also include reimbursement of payroll and related costs for personnel providing the services and subcontracted vendor costs. In 2019, we were responsible for implementing project management contracts valued at approximately $124.3 billion. While the majority of our project management revenue is reported in our Global Workplace Solutions segment, as previously mentioned, we also report project management revenue in our Advisory Services segment. In 2019, project management revenue in our Global Workplace Solutions segment represented approximately 67% of total project management revenue for CBRE.

Transaction Services

We provide strategic advice and execution for occupiers of real estate in connection with the leasing, sale or acquisition of office, industrial and retail space. Within the Global Workplace Solutions business, transaction services are performed for account-based clients, often as a key part of an integrated suite of commercial real estate services (with leasing being the most meaningful revenue stream included in our Global Workplace Solutions revenue). In 2019, leasing revenue included in our Global Workplace Solutions revenue represented approximately 3% of global leasing revenue for CBRE.

Real Estate Investments

Our Real Estate Investments segment is comprised of investment management services provided globally, development services in the United States and United Kingdom and a service designed to help property occupiers and owners meet the growing demand for flexible office space solutions on a global basis.

Investment Management Services

Investment management services are conducted through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, CBRE Global Investors, LLC and its global affiliates. CBRE Global Investors provides investment management services to pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments and other institutional investors seeking to generate returns and diversification through investment in real estate, infrastructure, master limited partnerships and other assets. We sponsor investment programs that span the risk/return spectrum in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In some strategies, CBRE Global Investors and its investment teams co-invest with its limited partners.

CBRE Global Investors’ offerings are organized into four primary categories: (1) direct real estate investments through sponsored funds; (2) direct real estate investments through separate accounts; (3) indirect real estate and infrastructure investments through listed securities; and (4) indirect real estate, infrastructure and private equity investments through multi-manager investment programs.

Assets under management, or AUM, totaled $112.9 billion at December 31, 2019 as compared to $105.5 billion at December 31, 2018, an increase of $7.4 billion ($7.3 billion in local currency).

Development Services

Development services are conducted through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Trammell Crow Company, LLC, which provides commercial real estate development services in the United States, and Telford Homes Plc, a developer of residential multi-family properties in the United Kingdom.

Trammell Crow Company pursues opportunistic, risk-mitigated development and investment strategies for users of and investors in commercial real estate, as well as for its own account. The company is active in industrial, office and retail properties; healthcare facilities of all types (medical office buildings, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers); and residential multi-family/mixed-use projects. Trammell Crow Company is compensated by its clients on a fee basis with no, or limited, ownership interest in a property; in partnership with its clients through co-investment – either on an individual project basis or through programs with certain strategic capital partners or for its own account with 100% ownership. Development services activity in which Trammell Crow Company has an ownership interest is conducted through subsidiaries that are consolidated or unconsolidated for financial reporting purposes, depending primarily on the extent and nature of our ownership interest.

Telford Homes is a developer of residential-led, mixed-use sites in locations across London, where the need for homes exceeds supply. In recent years, Telford has undertaken a strategic shift to focus on the growing build-to-rent/multifamily market and is pursuing such opportunities with a number of third-party investors.

At December 31, 2019, we had $13.0 billion of development projects in process, and a development pipeline (prospective projects that we estimate have a greater than 50% chance of closing or where land has been acquired and the projected construction start date is more than one year out) totaled $5.8 billion at December 31, 2019.

Flexible-Space Solutions

Flexible-space solutions operations are conducted through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, CBRE Hana, LLC, which we also refer to as Hana. Hana develops and operates integrated, scalable, flexible workspaces, which contain office suites, conference rooms and event space and communal co-working space. Hana helps institutional property owners meet the rapidly growing demand from real estate occupiers for flexible office space solutions.

Competition

We face competition across all our lines of business on an international, national, regional and local level. Although we are the largest commercial real estate services firm in the world in terms of 2019 revenue, our relative competitive position varies significantly across geographic markets, property types and services. We face competition from other global, national, regional and local commercial real estate service providers; companies that traditionally competed in limited portions of our facilities management business and have expanded into other outsourcing offerings; in-house corporate real estate departments and property owners/developers that self-perform real estate services; investment banking firms, investment managers and developers that compete with us to raise and place investment capital; and accounting/consulting firms that advise on real estate strategies. Some of these firms may have greater financial resources than we do.

Despite recent consolidation, the commercial real estate services industry remains highly fragmented and competitive. Although many of our competitors are substantially smaller than we are, some of them are larger on a regional or local-market basis or have a stronger position in a specific market segment or service offering. Among our primary competitors are other large national and global firms, such as Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated, or JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International Group, Inc., Savills plc and Newmark Group, Inc.; market-segment specialists, such as Eastdil Secured, Marcus & Millichap, Inc. and Walker & Dunlop; and firms with business lines that compete with our occupier outsourcing business, such as ISS, and Sodexo. In addition, in recent years, providers of flexible office-space solutions, such as WeWork, IWG/Regus/Spaces, Industrious and Knotel, have offered services directly to occupiers, providing competition, particularly for smaller space requirements. These providers also compete directly with our flexible-space solutions subsidiary, CBRE Hana, LLC, which launched in 2019.

Seasonality

A significant portion of our revenue is seasonal, which an investor should keep in mind when comparing our financial condition and results of operations on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Historically, our revenue, operating income, net income and cash flow from operating activities tend to be lowest in the first quarter, and highest in the fourth quarter of each year. Revenue, earnings and cash flow have generally been concentrated in the fourth calendar quarter due to the focus on completing sales, financing and leasing transactions prior to year-end.

Employees

At December 31, 2019, excluding our independent affiliates, we had more than 100,000 employees worldwide, approximately 47% of whose costs are fully reimbursed by clients and are mostly in our Global Workplace Solutions segment and our property management line of business within our Advisory Services segment. At December 31, 2019, approximately 12% of our employees worldwide were subject to collective bargaining agreements.

Intellectual Property

We regard our intellectual property as an important part of our business. We hold various trademarks and trade names worldwide, which include the “CBRE,” “Hana” and “Telford” marks. Although we believe our intellectual property plays a role in maintaining our competitive position in a number of the markets that we serve, we do not believe we would be materially, adversely affected by the expiration or termination of our trademarks or trade names or the loss of any of our other intellectual property rights other than the “CBRE” and “Trammell Crow Company” marks. We maintain trademark registrations for the “CBRE,” “Hana” and “Telford” service marks in jurisdictions where we conduct significant business.

We hold a license to use the “Trammell Crow Company” trade name pursuant to a license agreement with CF98, L.P., an affiliate of Crow Realty Investors, L.P., d/b/a Crow Holdings, which may be revoked if we fail to satisfy usage and quality control covenants under the license agreement.

In addition to trademarks and trade names, we have acquired and developed proprietary technologies for the provision of complex services and analysis. We have a number of pending patent applications relating to these proprietary technologies. We will continue to file additional patent applications on new inventions, as appropriate, demonstrating our commitment to technology and innovation. We also offer proprietary research to clients through our CBRE Research and CBRE Econometric Advisors commercial real estate market information and forecasting groups and we offer proprietary investment analysis and structures through our CBRE Global Investors business.

Environmental Matters

Federal, state and local laws and regulations in the countries in which we do business impose environmental liabilities, controls, disclosure rules and zoning restrictions that affect the ownership, management, development, use or sale of commercial real estate. Certain of these laws and regulations may impose liability on current or previous real property owners or operators for the cost of investigating, cleaning up or removing contamination caused by hazardous or toxic substances at a property, including contamination resulting from above-ground or underground storage tanks or the presence of asbestos or lead at a property. If contamination occurs or is present during our role as a property or facility manager or developer, we could be held liable for such costs as a current “operator” of a property, regardless of the legality of the acts or omissions that caused the contamination and without regard to whether we knew of, or were responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. The operator of a site also may be liable under common law to third parties for damages and injuries resulting from exposure to hazardous substances or environmental contamination at a site, including liabilities arising from exposure to asbestos-containing materials. Under certain laws and common law principles, any failure by us to disclose environmental contamination at a property could subject us to liability to a buyer or lessee of the property. Further, federal, state and local governments in the countries in which we do business have enacted various laws, regulations and treaties governing environmental and climate change, particularly for “greenhouse gases,” which seek to tax, penalize or limit their release. Such regulations could lead to increased operational or compliance costs over time.

While we are aware of the presence or the potential presence of regulated substances in the soil or groundwater at or near several properties owned, operated or managed by us that may have resulted from historical or ongoing activities on those properties, we are not aware of any material noncompliance with the environmental laws or regulations currently applicable to us, and we are not the subject of any material claim for liability with respect to contamination at any location. However, these laws and regulations may discourage sales and leasing activities and mortgage lending with respect to some properties, which may adversely affect both the commercial real estate services industry in general and us. Environmental contamination or other environmental liabilities may

also negatively affect the value of commercial real estate assets held by entities that are managed by our investment management and development services businesses, which could adversely affect the results of operations of these business lines.

Available Information

Our website is www.cbre.com. On the Investor Relations section of our website (https://ir.cbre.com), we post the following filings as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC: our Annual Report on Form 10-K, or Annual Report, our Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. We also make available through our website other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under the Exchange Act, including reports filed by our officers and directors under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act. All of the information on our investor relations website is available to be viewed free of charge.

Investors and others should note that we routinely announce financial and other material information using our investor relations website, SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. We use these channels of distribution to communicate with our investors and members of the public about our company, our services and other items of interest. Information contained on our website is not part of this Annual Report or our other filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this Annual Report whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless we are required to do so by law.

The SEC also maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

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Set forth below and elsewhere in this report and in other documents we file with the SEC are risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this report and other public statements we make. Based on the information currently known to us, we believe that the matters discussed below identify the material risk factors affecting our business. However, the risks and uncertainties we face are not limited to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial (but that later become material) may also adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to our Business Environment

Our performance is significantly related to general economic, political and regulatory conditions and, accordingly, our business, operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by economic slowdowns, liquidity constraints, significant public health events, such as pandemics, fiscal or political uncertainty and possible subsequent downturns in commercial real estate asset values, property sales and leasing activities in the geographies or industry sectors that we or our clients serve.

Periods of economic weakness or recession, significantly rising interest rates, fiscal or political uncertainty, market volatility, declining employment levels, declining demand for commercial real estate, falling real estate values, disruption to the global capital or credit markets or the public perception that any of these events may occur, may negatively affect the performance of some or all of our business lines.

Our business is significantly affected by generally prevailing economic conditions in the markets where we operate, which can result in a decline in real estate acquisition, disposition and leasing activity, as well as a general decline in the value of commercial real estate and in rents, which in turn reduces revenue from property management fees and commissions derived from property sales, leasing, valuation and financing, as well as revenues associated with development or investment management activities.

Our businesses could also suffer from political or economic disruptions (or the perception that such disruptions may occur) that affect interest rates or liquidity or create financial, market or regulatory uncertainty. For example, in 2019, continued uncertainty throughout the year about the date and the terms on which the United Kingdom would leave the European Union led to lower lease and sales volumes. Following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union on January 31, 2020, ongoing uncertainty over the country’s long-term economic and trade relationship with the European Union may continue to cause market volatility and currency fluctuations and adversely impact business and consumer confidence or the economy in general, which may adversely affect business in the United Kingdom and other European businesses. These uncertainties and any perception of weakness in the British economy could not only impact the performance of commercial real estate assets located in the United Kingdom, but access to funds from investors located in the United Kingdom.

Adverse economic conditions or political or regulatory uncertainty or significant public health events, such as pandemics, could also lead to a decline in leasing volume, property sales prices, funds invested in commercial real estate assets or planned development activity, which in turn could reduce the commissions and fees we earn. During 2019, our Asia Pacific business experienced declines in leasing activity amid rising geopolitical and trade uncertainty and slowing regional economies. Furthermore, in December 2019, a strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, resulting in decreased economic activity in China and concerns about a potential pandemic, which would adversely affect the broader global economy. At this point, the extent to which this coronavirus may impact the global economy and our results is uncertain, but pandemics or other significant public health events, or the perception that such events may occur, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We also make co-investments alongside our investor clients in our development and investment management businesses. During an economic downturn, capital for our investment activities could be constrained and it may take longer for us to dispose of real estate investments or sale prices we achieve may be lower than originally anticipated. As a result, the value of our commercial real estate investments may be reduced, and we could realize losses or diminished profitability. In addition, economic downturns may reduce the volume of loans our capital markets business originates and/or services. Fees within our property management business are generally based on a percentage of rent collections, making them sensitive to macro-economic conditions that negatively impact rent collections and the performance of the properties we manage.

Economic, political and regulatory uncertainty as well as significant changes and volatility in the financial markets and business environment, and in the global landscape, make it difficult for us to predict our financial performance into the future. As a result, any guidance or outlook that we provide on our performance is based on then-current conditions, and there is a risk that such guidance may turn out to be inaccurate.

Adverse developments in the credit markets may harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our investment management, development services and capital markets (including property sales and mortgage and structured financing services) businesses are sensitive to credit cost and availability as well as financial liquidity. Additionally, the revenues in all of our businesses are dependent to some extent on the overall volume of activity (and pricing) in the commercial real estate markets.

Disruptions in the credit markets may adversely affect our business of providing advisory services to owners, investors and occupiers of real estate in connection with the leasing, disposition and acquisition of property. If our clients are unable to obtain credit on favorable terms, there may be fewer property leasing, disposition and acquisition transactions. In addition, under such conditions, our investment management and development services businesses may be unable to attract capital or achieve returns sufficient to earn incentive fees and we may also experience losses of co-invested equity capital if the disruption causes a prolonged decline in the value of investments made.

Our operations are subject to social, political and economic risks in foreign countries as well as foreign currency volatility.

We conduct a significant portion of our business and employ a substantial number of people outside of the United States and as a result, we are subject to risks associated with doing business globally. During 2019, approximately 42% of our revenue was transacted in foreign currencies, the majority of which included the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Chinese yuan, Czech koruna, Danish krone, euro, Hong Kong dollar, Indian rupee, Israeli shekel, Japanese yen, Korean won, Mexican peso, New Zealand dollar, Polish zloty, Singapore dollar, Swedish krona, Swiss franc and Thai baht. Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may result in corresponding fluctuations in revenue and earnings as well as the assets under management for our investment management business. Over time, fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the other currencies in which we generate earnings could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Due to the constantly changing currency exposures to which w

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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

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None.

Item 2. Properties.

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As of December 31, 2019, we occupied offices, excluding affiliates, in the following geographical regions:

Sales OfficesCorporate OfficesTotal
Americas2553258
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)1821183
Asia Pacific95196
Total5325537

Some of our offices house employees from more than one of our business segments (i.e. an office might house employees from all three of our business segments). As such, we have provided above office totals by geographic region rather than by business segment in order to avoid double counting or triple counting our offices.

In general, these leased offices are fully utilized. The most significant terms of the leasing arrangements for our offices are the length of the lease and the rent. Our leases have terms varying in duration. The rent payable under our office leases varies significantly from location to location as a result of differences in prevailing commercial real estate rates in different geographic locations. Our management believes that no single office lease is material to our business, results of operations or financial condition. In addition, we believe there is adequate alternative office space available at acceptable rental rates to meet our needs, although adverse movements in rental rates in some markets may negatively affect our profits in those markets when we enter into new leases.

We do not own any of these offices.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

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We are a party to a number of pending or threatened lawsuits arising out of, or incident to, our ordinary course of business. We believe that any losses in excess of the amounts accrued therefore as liabilities on our financial statements are unlikely to be significant, but litigation is inherently uncertain and there is the potential for a material adverse effect on our financial statements if one or more matters are resolved in a particular period in an amount materially in excess of what we anticipated.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

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Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

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Stock Price Information

Our Class A common stock has traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CBRE” since March 19, 2018. Prior to that, from June 10, 2004 to March 18, 2018, our Class A common stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the “CBG” symbol.

As of February 14, 2020, there were 52 stockholders of record of our Class A common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on any class of our common stock since our inception on February 20, 2001, and we do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance future growth and possibly reduce debt or repurchase shares of our common stock. Any future determination to pay cash dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, acquisition or other opportunities to invest capital, results of operations, capital requirements and other factors that the board of directors deems relevant.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Open market share repurchase activity during the three months ended December 31, 2019 was as follows (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):

PeriodTotal Number of Shares PurchasedAverage Price Paid per ShareTotal Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or ProgramsApproximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1)
October 1, 2019 - October 31, 20191,003,485$50.851,003,485
November 1, 2019 - November 30, 2019—$——
December 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019—$——
Total1,003,485$50.851,003,485$400,000
(1)In February 2019, our board of directors authorized a new program for the company to repurchase up to $300.0 million of our Class A common stock over three years, effective March 11, 2019. In both August and November 2019, our board of directors authorized an additional $100.0 million under our new program, bringing the total authorized amount under the new program to a total of $500.0 million. The remaining $400.0 million in the table represents the amount available to repurchase shares under the authorized repurchase program as of December 31, 2019.

Our repurchase programs do not obligate us to acquire any specific number of shares. Under these programs, shares may be repurchased in privately negotiated and/or open market transactions, including under plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act. The timing of any future repurchases and the actual amounts repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including the market price of our common stock, general market and economic conditions and other factors.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table summarizes information about our equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2019. All outstanding awards relate to our Class A common stock.

Number of Securities to be Issued upon Exercise of Outstanding Options, Warrants and RightsWeighted-average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options, Warrants and RightsNumber of Securities Remaining Available for Future Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans (Excluding Securities Reflected in Column ( a ))
( a )( b )( c )
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders (1)10,309,128$—7,538,712
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders———
Total10,309,128$—7,538,712
(1)Consists of restricted stock units, or RSUs, issued under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2019 Plan, our 2017 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2017 Plan, and our 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2012 Plan. Our 2012 Plan terminated in May 2017 in connection with the adoption of the 2017 Plan. Our 2017 Plan terminated in May 2019 in connection with the adoption of the 2019 Plan. We cannot issue any further awards under both the 2017 Plan and the 2012 Plan.

In addition:

•The figures in the foregoing table include:
o6,209,669 RSUs that are performance vesting in nature, with the figures in the table reflecting the maximum number of RSUs that may be issued if all performance-based targets are satisfied and
o4,099,459 RSUs that are time vesting in nature.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph shows our cumulative total stockholder return for the period beginning December 31, 2014 and ending on December 31, 2019. The graph also shows the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, or S&P 500 Index, in which we are included, and two industry peer groups.

The comparison below assumes $100 was invested on December 31, 2014 in our Class A common stock and in each of the indices shown and assumes that all dividends were reinvested. Our stock price performance shown in the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance. The 2019 industry peer group is comprised of JLL, a global commercial real estate services company publicly traded in the United States, as well as the following companies that have significant commercial real estate or real estate capital markets businesses within the United States or globally, that in each case are publicly traded in the United States or abroad: Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI), Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. (CWK) , ISS A/S (ISS), Marcus & Millichap, Inc. (MMI), Newmark Group Inc. (NMRK), Savills plc (SVS.L, traded on the London Stock Exchange), Sodexo S.A. (SW.PA) and Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (WD). These companies are or include divisions with business lines reasonably comparable to some or all of ours, and which represent our current primary competitors. In 2019, we elected to remove HFF, L.P. from our peer group (given JLL acquired them) and replaced it with SW.PA.

12/31/1412/1512/1612/1712/1812/19
CBRE Group, Inc.100.00100.9691.94126.45116.91178.95
S&P 500100.00101.38113.51138.29132.23173.86
2018 Peer Group100.00120.0997.31133.11105.56137.39
2019 Peer Group100.00111.30109.75140.04110.26138.59
(1)$100 invested on 12/31/13 in stock or index-including reinvestment of dividends.

Fiscal year ending December 31.

(2)Copyright© 2020 Standard & Poor’s, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.

This graph shall not be deemed incorporated by reference by any general statement incorporating by reference this Annual Report on Form 10-K into any filing under the Securities Act or under the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate this information by reference therein, and shall not otherwise be deemed filed under the Securities Act or under the Exchange Act.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

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The following table sets forth our selected historical consolidated financial information for each of the five years in the period ended December 31, 2019. The statement of operations data, the statement of cash flows data and the other data for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 were derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (Annual Report). The statement of operations data, the statement of cash flows data and the other data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 were derived from our audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report.

The selected financial data presented below is not necessarily indicative of results of future operations and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the information included under the headings “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this Annual Report (dollars in thousands, except share data).

Year Ended December 31,
2019 (1)2018201720162015 (2)
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS DATA:
Revenue$23,894,091$21,340,088$18,628,787$17,369,108$10,855,810
Operating income1,259,8751,087,9891,078,682816,831835,944
Interest expense, net of interest income85,75498,685126,961136,800112,569
Write-off of financing costs on extinguished debt2,60827,982——2,685
Net income1,291,4501,065,948703,576585,170558,877
Net income attributable to non-controlling interests9,0932,7296,46712,09111,745
Net income attributable to CBRE Group, Inc.1,282,3571,063,219697,109573,079547,132
Income per share attributable to CBRE Group, Inc. (3)
Basic income per share$3.82$3.13$2.06$1.71$1.64
Diluted income per share3.773.102.051.691.63
Weighted average shares:
Basic335,795,654339,321,056337,658,017335,414,831332,616,301
Diluted340,522,871343,122,741340,783,556338,424,563336,414,856
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS DATA (4):
Net cash provided by operating activities$1,223,380$1,131,249$894,411$616,985$651,897
Net cash used in investing activities(721,024)(560,684)(302,600)(150,524)(1,618,959)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities(271,949)(506,600)(627,742)(220,677)789,548
OTHER DATA:
Adjusted EBITDA (5)$2,063,783$1,905,168$1,716,774$1,562,347$1,412,724
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
Cash and cash equivalents$971,781$777,219$751,774$762,576$540,403
Total assets16,197,19613,456,79311,718,39610,994,33811,017,943
Long-term debt, including current portion, net1,763,0591,770,4061,999,6112,548,1372,679,539
Total liabilities9,924,0848,446,8917,543,7827,848,4388,258,873
Total CBRE Group, Inc. stockholders’ equity6,232,6934,938,7974,114,4963,103,1422,712,652

Note: We have not declared any cash dividends on common stock for the periods shown.

(1)We adopted new lease accounting guidance in the first quarter of 2019 using the optional transitional method. Accordingly, no adjustments were made to the financial statements presented for prior periods. As a result of the adoption of the leasing guidance, the consolidated balance sheet as of January 1, 2019 reflected $1.2 billion of additional lease liabilities, along with corresponding right-of-use assets of $1.0 billion, reflecting adjustments for items such as prepaid and deferred rent, unamortized initial direct costs, and unamortized lease incentive balances. The adoption of the leasing guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated statement of operations. See Note 3 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements set forth in Item 8 of this Annual Report.
(2)On September 1, 2015, CBRE, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, closed on a Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) to acquire JCI’s Global Workplace Solutions (JCI-GWS) business (which we refer to as the GWS Acquisition). The results for the year ended December 31, 2015 include the operations of JCI-GWS from September 1, 2015, the date such business was acquired.

We also adopted new revenue recognition guidance in 2018 and restated 2017 and 2016 financial statements to conform with the new guidance. Amounts for the year ended December 31, 2015 have not been restated. See our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 for additional information.

(3)See Income Per Share information in Note 17 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements set forth in Item 8 of this Annual Report.
(4)In the first quarter of 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Updated (ASU) 2016-15, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments.” Certain reclassifications were made to the 2017 and 2016 statements of cash flows to conform with the 2018 presentation. Amounts for the year ended December 31, 2015 have not been reclassified.
(5)Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. When analyzing our operating performance, investors should use this measure in addition to, and not as an alternative for, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. We generally use this non-GAAP financial measure to evaluate operating performance and for other discretionary purposes. We believe this measure provides a more complete understanding of ongoing operations, enhances comparability of current results to prior periods and may be useful for investors to analyze our financial performance because it eliminates the impact of selected charges that may obscure trends in the underlying performance of our business. Because not all companies use identical calculations, our presentation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

EBITDA represents earnings before net interest expense, write-off of financing costs on extinguished debt, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and intangible asset impairments. Amounts shown for adjusted EBITDA further remove (from EBITDA) the impact of certain cash and non-cash items related to acquisitions, certain carried interest incentive compensation (reversal) expense to align with the timing of associated revenue, costs associated with our reorganization, including cost-savings initiatives, cost-elimination expenses and other non-recurring costs. We believe that investors may find these measures useful in evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because their calculations generally eliminate the effects of acquisitions, which would include impairment charges of goodwill and intangibles created from acquisitions, the effects of financings and income taxes and the accounting effects of capital spending.

Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow for our discretionary use because it does not consider certain cash requirements such as tax and debt service payments. This measure may also differ from amounts calculated under similarly titled definitions in our debt instruments, which are further adjusted to reflect certain other cash and non-cash charges and are used by us to determine compliance with financial covenants therein and our ability to engage in certain activities, such as incurring additional debt and making certain restricted payments. We also use adjusted EBITDA as a significant component when measuring our operating performance under our employee incentive compensation programs.

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as follows (dollars in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,
20192018201720162015 (2)
Net income attributable to CBRE Group, Inc.$1,282,357$1,063,219$697,109$573,079$547,132
Add:
Depreciation and amortization439,224451,988406,114366,927314,096
Intangible asset impairment89,787————
Interest expense, net of interest income85,75498,685126,961136,800112,569
Write-off of financing costs on extinguished debt2,60827,982——2,685
Provision for income taxes69,895313,058467,757296,900320,853
EBITDA1,969,6251,954,9321,697,9411,373,7061,297,335
Adjustments:
Costs associated with our reorganization, including cost-savings initiatives (i)49,56537,925———
Integration and other costs related to acquisitions15,2929,12427,351125,74348,865
Carried interest incentive compensation expense (reversal) to align with the timing of associated revenue13,101(5,261)(8,518)(15,558)26,085
Impact of fair value adjustments to real estate assets acquired in the Telford Acquisition (purchase accounting) that were sold in period9,301————
Costs incurred related to legal entity restructuring6,899————
Costs incurred in connection with litigation settlement—8,868———
One-time gain associated with remeasuring an investment in an unconsolidated subsidiary to fair value as of the date the remaining controlling interest was acquired—(100,420)———
Cost-elimination expenses———78,45640,439
Adjusted EBITDA$2,063,783$1,905,168$1,716,774$1,562,347$1,412,724
(i)Primarily represents severance costs related to headcount reductions in connection with our reorganization announced in the third quarter of 2018 that became effective January 1, 2019.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

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Overview

We are the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, based on 2019 revenue, with leading global market positions in our leasing, property sales, occupier outsourcing and valuation businesses. As of December 31, 2019, we operated in more than 530 offices worldwide and have more than 100,000 employees, excluding independent affiliates.

Our business is focused on providing services to real estate occupiers and investors. For occupiers, we provide facilities management, project management, transaction (both property sales and leasing) and consulting services, among others. For investors, we provide capital markets (property sales, mortgage origination, sales and servicing), leasing, investment management, property management, valuation and development services, among others. We provide services under the following brand names: “CBRE” (real estate advisory and outsourcing services); “CBRE Global Investors” (investment management); “Trammell Crow Company” (U.S. development); “Telford Homes” (U.K. development) and “Hana” (flexible-space solutions).

Our revenue mix has shifted in recent years toward more contractual revenue as occupiers and investors increasingly prefer to purchase integrated, account-based services from firms that meet the full spectrum of their needs nationally and globally. We believe we are well-positioned to capture a substantial share of growing market opportunities. We generate revenue from both management fees (large multi-year portfolio and per-project contracts) and commissions on transactions. Our contractual, fee-for-services businesses generally involve occupier outsourcing (including facilities and project management), property management, investment management, appraisal/valuation and loan servicing. In addition, our leasing services business line is largely recurring in nature over time.

In 2019, we generated revenue from a highly diversified base of clients, including more than 90 of the Fortune 100 companies. We have been an S&P 500 company since 2006 and in 2019 we were ranked #146 on the Fortune 500. We have been voted the most recognized commercial real estate brand in the Lipsey Company survey for 19 years in a row (including 2020). We have also been rated a World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute for seven consecutive years (including 2020), and are included in the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index and the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, which require us to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts. The estimates and assumptions are based on historical experience and on other factors that we believe to be reasonable. Actual results may differ from those estimates. We believe that the following critical accounting policies represent the areas where more significant judgments and estimates are used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

To recognize revenue in a transaction with a customer, we evaluate the five steps of the Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606 revenue recognition framework: (1) identify the contract; (2) identify the performance obligations(s) in the contract; (3) determine the transaction price; (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligation(s) and (5) recognize revenue when (or as) the performance obligations are satisfied.

Our revenue recognition policies are consistent with this five step framework. Understanding the complex terms of agreements and determining the appropriate time, amount, and method to recognize revenue for each transaction requires significant judgement. These significant judgements include: (i) determining what point in time or what measure of progress depicts the transfer of control to the customer; (ii) applying the series guidance to certain performance obligations satisfied over time; (iii) estimating how and when contingencies, or other forms of variable consideration, will impact the timing and amount of recognition of revenue and (iv) determining whether we control third party services before they are transferred to the customer in order to appropriately recognize the

associated fees on either a gross or net basis. The timing and amount of revenue recognition in a period could vary if different judgments were made. Our revenues subject to the most judgment are brokerage commission revenue, incentive-based management fees, development fees and third party fees associated with our occupier outsourcing and property management services. For a detailed discussion of our revenue recognition policies, see the Revenue Recognition section within Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements set forth in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or this Annual Report.

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Our acquisitions require the application of purchase accounting, which results in tangible and identifiable intangible assets and liabilities of the acquired entity being recorded at fair value. The difference between the purchase price and the fair value of net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill. In determining the fair values of assets and liabilities acquired in a business combination, we use a variety of valuation methods including present value, depreciated replacement cost, market values (where available) and selling prices less costs to dispose. We are responsible for determining the valuation of assets and liabilities and for the allocation of purchase price to assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

Assumptions must often be made in determining fair values, particularly where observable market values do not exist. Assumptions may include discount rates, growth rates, cost of capital, royalty rates, tax rates and remaining useful lives. These assumptions can have a significant impact on the value of identifiable assets and accordingly can impact the value of goodwill recorded. Different assumptions could result in different values being attributed to assets and liabilities. Since these values impact the amount of annual depreciation and amortization expense, different assumptions could also impact our statement of operations and could impact the results of future asset impairment reviews.

We are required to test goodwill and other intangible assets deemed to have indefinite useful lives for impairment at least annually, or more often if circumstances or events indicate a change in the impairment status, in accordance with the “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other” Topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, (Topic 350). We have the option to perform a qualitative assessment with respect to any of our reporting units to determine whether a quantitative impairment test is needed. We are permitted to assess based on qualitative factors whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying amount before applying the quantitative goodwill impairment test. If it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, we would conduct a quantitative goodwill impairment test. If not, we do not need to apply the quantitative test. The qualitative test is elective and we can go directly to the quantitative test rather than making a more-likely-than-not assessment based on an evaluation of qualitative factors. When performing a quantitative test, we use a discounted cash flow approach to estimate the fair value of our reporting units. Management’s judgment is required in developing the assumptions for the discounted cash flow model. These assumptions include revenue growth rates, profit margin percentages, discount rates, etc. Due to the many variables inherent in the estimation of a

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

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Our exposure to market risk primarily consists of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations related to our international operations and changes in interest rates on debt obligations. We manage such risk primarily by managing the amount, sources, and duration of our debt funding and by using derivative financial instruments. We apply the “Derivatives and Hedging” Topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) (Topic 815) when accounting for derivative financial instruments. In all cases, we view derivative financial instruments as a risk management tool and, accordingly, do not use derivatives for trading or speculative purposes.

Exchange Rates

Our foreign operations expose us to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. These fluctuations may impact the value of our cash receipts and payments in terms of our functional (reporting) currency, which is U.S. dollars. See the discussion of international operations, which is included in Item 7. “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under the caption “International Operations” and is incorporated by reference herein.

Interest Rates

We manage our interest expense by using a combination of fixed and variable rate debt. Historically, we have entered into interest rate swap agreements to attempt to hedge the variability of future interest payments due to changes in interest rates. As of December 31, 2019, we do not have any outstanding interest rate swap agreements.

The estimated fair value of our senior term loans was approximately $745.5 million at December 31, 2019. Based on dealers’ quotes, the estimated fair values of our 4.875% senior notes and 5.25% senior notes were $670.7 million and $478.3 million, respectively, at December 31, 2019.

We utilize sensitivity analyses to assess the potential effect on our variable rate debt. If interest rates were to increase 100 basis points on our outstanding variable rate debt at December 31, 2019, the net impact of the additional interest cost would be a decrease of $7.5 million on pre-tax income and a decrease of $7.5 million in cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

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INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES

Page
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on Consolidated Financial Statements52
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting54
Consolidated Balance Sheets at December 31, 2019 and 201856
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 201757
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 201758
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 201759
Consolidated Statements of Equity for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 201761
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements63
Quarterly Results of Operations (Unaudited)117
FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES:
Schedule II -Valuation and Qualifying Accounts122

All other schedules are omitted because they are either not applicable, not required or the information required is included in the Consolidated Financial Statements, including the notes thereto.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors

CBRE Group, Inc.:

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of CBRE Group, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows, and equity for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2019, and the related notes and financial statement schedule II (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2019, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and our report dated March 2, 2020 expressed an adverse opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company has changed its method of accounting for leases in 2019 due to the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842, Leases.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgment. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Assessment of G**ross U**nrecognized T**ax B**enefits

As discussed in Notes 2 and 15 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company has recorded gross unrecognized tax benefits of $141.2 million as of December 31, 2019. The Company utilizes a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the available evidence indicates there is more than a 50% likelihood that the position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount which is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.

We identified the assessment of the gross unrecognized tax benefits as a critical audit matter. Complex auditor judgment was required in evaluating the Company’s interpretation of tax law and its estimate of the resolution of the tax positions underlying the unrecognized tax benefits.

The primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included the following. We tested certain internal controls over the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits process, including the interpretation of tax law and the estimate of the unrecognized tax benefits. Since tax law is complex and often subject to interpretations, we involved tax and valuation professionals with specialized skills and knowledge, who assisted in:

•Evaluating the Company’s interpretation of tax law and the potential impact on the Company’s tax positions,
•Assessing transfer pricing policies for compliance with applicable laws and regulations,
•Inspecting settlement documents with applicable taxing authorities, and assessing the expiration of statutes of limitations, and
•Performing an independent assessment of certain of the Company’s tax positions and comparing the results to the Company’s assessment.

/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2008.

Los Angeles, California

March 2, 2020

Report of Independent Regist****ered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors

CBRE Group, Inc.:

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited CBRE Group, Inc. and subsidiaries’ (the Company) internal control o

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Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.

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None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

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Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f), including maintenance of (i) records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets, and (ii) policies and procedures that provide reasonable assurance that (a) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, (b) our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and our board of directors and (c) we will prevent or timely detect unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Internal control over financial reporting cannot provide absolute assurance of achieving financial reporting objectives because of the inherent limitations of any system of internal control. Internal control over financial reporting is a process that involves human diligence and compliance and is subject to lapses of judgment and breakdowns resulting from human failures. Internal control over financial reporting also can be circumvented by collusion or improper overriding of controls. As a result of such limitations, there is risk that material misstatements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control over financial reporting. However, these inherent limitations are known features of the financial reporting process. Therefore, it is possible to design into the process safeguards to reduce, though not eliminate, this risk.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission. We acquired Telford Homes Plc during 2019, as defined in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements, and excluded from our assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 Telford Homes Plc’s internal control over financial reporting associated with total assets of $525.4 million and total revenues of $97.5 million included in our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2019.

Based on our evaluation under the COSO framework, our management concluded that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 due to the fact that material weaknesses existed in the company’s internal control over financial reporting as further described below. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG LLP, who audited the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, has expressed an adverse report on the operating effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting. KPMG LLP’s report is included herein on page 2.

Material Weaknesses Identified Relating to Global Workplace Solutions Segment – Europe, Middle East & Africa R****egion (GWS EMEA)

Based on our evaluation under the COSO framework, our management concluded that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 due to the fact that material weaknesses existed in GWS EMEA.

As of December 31, 2019, we determined that the severity of control failures isolated to GWS EMEA led management to conclude that the following material weaknesses existed in the internal control environment in GWS EMEA:

•GWS EMEA did not have sufficient resources in the local GWS EMEA territories with the appropriate reporting lines, roles and responsibilities, authority, training and skill sets to design and operate financial activities, including controls, in an appropriate and timely manner.
•GWS EMEA did not effectively assess and address the risks posed by changes in the business and the related effect on the GWS EMEA system of internal controls. In relation to this, specific to the rollout of GWS EMEA’s primary financial system, GWS EMEA did not effectively operate general information technology controls related to financial data migrations, user access, system changes and financial data processing. Because of the deficiencies in general information technology controls, the business process controls (automated and manual) that are dependent on this system were also deemed ineffective because they could have been adversely impacted.
•GWS EMEA did not design or execute control activities that sufficiently mitigated the financial reporting risks related to GWS EMEA.
•GWS EMEA did not have an effective information and communication process to identify, capture and process relevant information necessary for financial accounting and reporting.
•The company did not monitor the presentation and effectiveness of components of internal control through evaluation and remediation in an appropriate manner within GWS EMEA and GWS EMEA was not sufficiently integrated with the corporate oversight function.

Consequently, there were control failures for GWS EMEA in the areas of revenue and receivables, balance sheet account reconciliations, journal entries and general information technology controls. During 2019, as GWS EMEA increased in complexity and grew in both size and scale, management did not prioritize an appropriate level of oversight, a sufficient number of capable resources or training for control owners to address internal controls over financial reporting. As a result, even though a material misstatement was not identified in the GWS EMEA financial statements, it was determined that there was a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement in the GWS EMEA financial statements would not have been prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The Company’s Plan to Remediate the Material Weaknesses

The company, with the oversight from the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, is committed to remediating the GWS EMEA material weaknesses in a timely manner. We have begun the process of executing remediation plans that address the material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting. We are engaged in various stages of remedial actions to address the material weaknesses described above. We are using both internal and external resources to assist in the following actions:

•Performing a comprehensive review of the GWS EMEA’s finance and accounting operating model to establish and implement a target operating model under the recently developed Finance Innovation Office under the Chief Financial Officer, which will assess people and headcount, reporting lines, roles and responsibilities, training, technology and tools.
•Assessing key processes at material GWS EMEA locations to ensure that the processes, procedures and controls are adequately designed, are clearly documented, standardized and appropriately communicated to enhance control ownership throughout the GWS EMEA organization.
•Reviewing the GWS EMEA finance and accounting organization to ensure GWS EMEA compliance and Information Technology resources are under the CBRE Global SOX and Financial Reporting Systems governance programs led by the Chief Accounting Officer and that control preparers and reviewers align to an appropriate organizational structure to sustain the remedial actions, including those related to business process and general information technology controls.
•Evaluating and designing controls to address the completeness and accuracy of data used to support key estimations, accounting transactions and disclosures, primarily associated with spreadsheets and other key reports.
•Enhancing GWS EMEA’s risk assessment and monitoring procedures by implementing new training activities, hiring additional capable resources, and enhancing our Risk and Fraud Risk assessment processes to ensure appropriate resources and controls are in place to mitigate risks as commensurate with the global risk assessment and that GWS EMEA’s process is fully incorporated into the corporate oversight function.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Rule 13a-15 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires that we conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, and we have a disclosure policy in furtherance of the same. This evaluation is designed to ensure that all corporate disclosure is complete and accurate in all material respects. The evaluation is further designed to ensure that all information required to be disclosed in our SEC reports is accumulated and communicated to management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods and in the manner specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer supervise and participate in this evaluation, and they are assisted by our Chief Accounting Officer and other members of our Disclosure Committee. In addition to our Chief Accounting Officer, our Disclosure Committee consists of our General Counsel, our Chief Digital and Technology Officer, our Chief Communication Officer, our Global Controller, our Vice President of Global SOX Assurance, our Senior Officers of significant business lines and other select employees.

We conducted the required evaluation, and our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined by Securities Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e)) were not effective as of December 31, 2019 to accomplish their objectives at the reasonable assurance level because of the material weaknesses described above.

Notwithstanding such material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting, our management concluded that our consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K present fairly, in all material respects, the company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of the dates, and for the periods presented, in conformity with U.S. GAAP.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Other than the material weaknesses described above, there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. Our remediation efforts related to the material weaknesses are ongoing.

Item 9B. Other Information.

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None.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

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The information under the headings “Elect Directors,” “Corporate Governance,” “Executive Management” and “Stock Ownership” in the definitive proxy statement for our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is incorporated herein by reference.

We are filing the certifications by the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer required under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 11. Executive Compensation.

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The information contained under the headings “Corporate Governance,” “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” and “Executive Compensation” in the definitive proxy statement for our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

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We incorporate herein by reference the information contained under the heading “Stock Ownership” in the definitive proxy statement for our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

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The information contained under the headings “Elect Directors,” “Corporate Governance” and “Related-Party Transactions” in the definitive proxy statement for our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.

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The information contained under the heading “Audit and Other Fees” in the definitive proxy statement for our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.

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1.Financial Statements

See Index to Consolidated Financial Statements set forth on page 2.

2.Financial Statement Schedules

See Schedule II on page 2.

3.Exhibits

See Exhibit Index beginning on page 2 hereof.

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary.

| --- | --- |

Not applicable.

CBRE GROUP, INC.

SCHEDULE II – VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

(Dollars in thousands)

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
Balance, December 31, 2016$39,469
Charges to expense8,044
Write-offs, payments and other(724)
Balance, December 31, 201746,789
Charges to expense19,760
Write-offs, payments and other(6,201)
Balance, December 31, 201860,348
Charges to expense20,373
Write-offs, payments and other(7,996)
Balance, December 31, 2019$72,725

EXHIBIT INDEX

Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit No.Exhibit DescriptionFormSEC File No.ExhibitFiling DateFiled Herewith
2.1Share Sale Agreement, dated November 12, 2013, by and among William Investments Limited, the individual vendors named therein, CBRE Holdings Limited, CBRE UK Acquisition Company Limited and CBRE Group, Inc.8-K001-322051.0111/13/2013
2.2Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of March 31, 2015, by and between Johnson Controls, Inc. and CBRE, Inc.8-K001-322052.104/03/2015
3.1Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of CBRE Group, Inc.8-K001-322053.105/23/2018
3.2Amended and Restated By-Laws of CBRE Group, Inc.8-K001-322053.205/23/2018
4.1Form of Class A common stock certificate of CBRE Group, Inc.10-Q001-322054.108/09/2017
4.2(a)Indenture, dated as of March 14, 2013, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee10-Q001-322054.4(a)05/10/2013
4.2(b)Second Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 26, 2014, between CBRE Services, Inc., CBRE Group, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, for the 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025, including the Form of 5.25% Senior Notes due 20258-K001-322054.109/26/2014
4.2(c)Third Supplemental Indenture, dated as of December 12, 2014, between CBRE Services, Inc., CBRE Group, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, for the additional issuance of 5.25% Senior Notes due 20258-K001-322054.112/12/2014
4.2(d)Form of Supplemental Indenture among certain subsidiary guarantors of CBRE Services, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, for the 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025S-3ASR333-2011264.3(h)12/19/2014
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit No.Exhibit DescriptionFormSEC File No.ExhibitFiling DateFiled Herewith
4.2(e)Fourth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of August 13, 2015, between CBRE Services, Inc., CBRE Group, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, for the issuance of 4.875% Senior Notes due 2026, including the Form of 4.875% Senior Notes due 20268-K001-322054.208/13/2015
4.2(f)Fifth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 25, 2015, between CBRE GWS LLC, CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, relating to the 5.00% Senior Notes due 2023, the 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025 and the 4.875% Senior Notes due 20268-K001-322054.109/25/2015
4.2(g)Sixth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of January 28, 2020, among CBRE Holdings, LLC, CBRE Services, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee, relating to the 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025 and the 4.875% Senior Notes due 2026X
4.3Description of SecuritiesX
10.1Credit Agreement, dated as of October 31, 2017, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc., the lenders party thereto and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent8-K001-3220510.111/01/2017
10.2Borrowing Subsidiary Agreement, dated as of December 20, 2018, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., CBRE Global Acquisition Company and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent10-K001-3220510.203/01/2019
10.3Incremental Term Loan Assumption Agreement, dated as of December 20, 2018, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc., the lenders party thereto and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent8-K001-3220510.112/21/2018
10.4Incremental Term Loan Assumption Agreement, dated as of March 4, 2019 among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., certain subsidiaries of CBRE Services, Inc., the lenders party thereto and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent8-K001-3220510.103/05/2019
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit No.Exhibit DescriptionFormSEC File No.ExhibitFiling DateFiled Herewith
10.5Guarantee Agreement, dated as of October 31, 2017, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., the subsidiary guarantors party thereto and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent8-K001-3220510.211/01/2017
10.6Supplement No. 1, dated December 20, 2018, to the Guarantee Agreement, among CBRE Group, Inc., CBRE Services, Inc., the subsidiary guarantors party thereto and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent10-K001-3220510.503/01/2019
10.7CBRE Group, Inc. Executive Bonus Plan +X
10.8CBRE Group, Inc. Executive Incentive Plan +8-K001-3220510.105/21/2015
10.9Form of Indemnification Agreement for Directors and Officers +8-K001-3220510.112/08/2009
10.10Form of Indemnification Agreement for Directors and Officers +10-Q001-3220510.305/10/2016
10.11CBRE Group, Inc. 2012 Equity Incentive Plan +S-8333-18123599.105/08/2012
10.12Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (Performance Vest) +8-K001-3220510.108/20/2013
10.13Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (Time Vest) +8-K001-3220510.208/20/2013
10.14CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan +S-8333-21811399.105/19/2017
10.15Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Time Vest) +8-K001-3220510.203/5/2019
10.16Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Performance Vest) +8-K001-3220510.303/5/2019
10.17Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Groch Time Vest) +8-K001-3220510.403/5/2019
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit No.Exhibit DescriptionFormSEC File No.ExhibitFiling DateFiled Herewith
10.18Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Groch Performance Vest) +8-K001-3220510.503/5/2019
10.19Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Non-Employee Director) +S-8333-21811399.405/19/2017
10.20Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (Time Vesting RSU) +10-K001-3220510.2703/1/2018
10.21Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (TSR Performance RSU) +10-K001-3220510.2803/1/2018
10.22Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (EPS Performance RSU) +10-K001-3220510.2903/1/2018
10.23CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan +S-8 POS333-23157299.105/29/2019
10.24Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (Time Vest) +X
10.25Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (Performance Vest) +10-Q001-3220510.408/09/2019
10.26Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (Groch Time Vest) +X
10.27Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (Groch Performance Vest) +10-Q001-3220510.608/09/2019
10.28Form of Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement for the CBRE Group, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (Non-Employee Director) +10-Q001-3220510.708/09/2019
10.29CBRE Deferred Compensation Plan, effective January 1, 2019 +10-K001-3220510.2203/1/2019
10.30CBRE Adoption Agreement +10-K001-3220510.2303/1/2019
10.31CBRE Group, Inc. Change in Control and Severance Plan for Senior Management, including form of Designation Letter +8-K001-3220510.103/27/2015
Incorporated by Reference
Exhibit No.Exhibit DescriptionFormSEC File No.ExhibitFiling DateFiled Herewith
10.32Form of Restricted Covenants Agreement10-K001-3220510.3303/1/2018
10.33Letter Agreement dated as of January 4, 2019 by and between CBRE, Inc. and James R. Groch +10-Q001-3220510.105/10/2019
10.34Letter Agreement dated as of April 4, 2019 by and between CBRE, Inc. and Leah C. Stearns +10-Q001-3220510.205/10/2019
21Subsidiaries of CBRE Group, Inc.X
23.1Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting FirmX
31.1Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to §302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002X
31.2Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to §302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002X
32Certifications of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as adopted pursuant to §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002X
101.INSInline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)X
101.SCHInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema DocumentX
101.CALInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase DocumentX
101.DEFInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase DocumentX
101.LABInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase DocumentX
101.PREInline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase DocumentX
104Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)X
+Denotes a management contract or compensatory arrangement

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

CBRE GROUP, INC.
By:/s/ ROBERT E. SULENTIC
Robert E. Sulentic President and Chief Executive Officer
Date: March 2, 2020

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

SignatureTitleDate
/s/ DARA A. BAZZANOChief Accounting OfficerMarch 2, 2020
Dara A. Bazzano(Principal Accounting Officer)
/s/ BRANDON B. BOZEChair of the BoardMarch 2, 2020
Brandon B. Boze
/s/ BETH F. COBERTDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Beth F. Cobert
/s/ CURTIS F. FEENYDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Curtis F. Feeny
/s/ REGINALD H. GILYARDDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Reginald H. Gilyard
/s/ SHIRA D. GOODMANDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Shira D. Goodman
/s/ CHRISTOPHER T. JENNYDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Christopher T. Jenny
/s/ GERARDO I. LOPEZDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Gerardo I. Lopez
/s/ LEAH C. STEARNSChief Financial OfficerMarch 2, 2020
Leah C. Stearns(Principal Financial Officer)
/s/ ROBERT E. SULENTICDirector and President and Chief Executive OfficerMarch 2, 2020
Robert E. Sulentic(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ LAURA D. TYSONDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Laura D. Tyson
/s/ RAY WIRTADirectorMarch 2, 2020
Ray Wirta
/s/ SANJIV YAJNIKDirectorMarch 2, 2020
Sanjiv Yajnik