The Agnelli family has agreed to acquire a 67.5% stake in Cushman & Wakefield for $563m (£287m).

The firm, using its investment arm IFIL Group, said this afternoon that it would replace Rockefeller Group International as controlling shareholder.

The transaction values the equity capital of the real estate services company at $834 million (£425m) after transaction costs.

IFIL has the option of acquiring a further 8.1% of the equity capital from Cushman & Wakefield management and employees, who will retain up to 32.5% of the company’s equity.

The acquisition will be primarily financed with IFIL’s existing cash resources with no additional leverage assumed by Cushman & Wakefield.

IFIL said that it plans to continue diversifying its assets across a range of sectors, geographies and currencies following the purchase.

Bruce Mosler will continue as president and CEO of the company. The Cushman & Wakefield board of directors will now consist of Carlo Sant’Albano, Alessandro Potestá, Michael Bartolotta and Pierre Martinet from IFIL and Bruce Mosler, John Cushman and John Santora from Cushman & Wakefield.

The transaction requires regulatory approval and is expected to close around the end of January.

IFIL vice chairman John Elkann said: ‘We’re delighted to be able to announce this partnership with Bruce Mosler and his team. As a leader in a growing, global services sector, Cushman & Wakefield is precisely the kind of company we’ve been looking for as we continue diversifying our investments.’

Mosler, chief executive officer of Cushman & Wakefield, said: ‘Securing IFIL as our partner puts Cushman & Wakefield in a position to take advantage of a consolidating industry to push forward with our strategic growth plan.

‘IFIL’s knowledge of the regions and business areas we are targeting, its experience in the sector we serve and a transaction structure that assures Cushman & Wakefield of strong financial flexibility will put us in an even more powerful position to accelerate our plan for growth.’