Billionaire plans Cushman & Wakefield bid

Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang's Fosun International Ltd is weighing a bid for commercial property broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Shanghai-based investment firm is among several companies that have expressed interest in Cushman, whose owners are seeking about $2 billion, according to the people. The process is at an early stage and any deal would be several months away, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Cushman, the largest closely held provider of commercial property services, offers a footprint in 60 countries employing about 16,000, according to its website. The New York-based firm, majority owned by the Agnelli family's Italian holding company Exor SpA, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley to sell the company and prefers a buyer that isn't a direct competitor, people with knowledge of the plan said last month.