CB Richard Ellis has made $10m (£4.95m) from the controversial freezing of pension schemes for employees of two of the UK companies it bought.

Filings made to the New York Securities and Exchange Commission show that CBRE registered a $10m curtailment gain in its third-quarter accounts in relation to a change in pension schemes for employees of St Quintin and CB Hillier Parker. Staff, including some of CBRE’s most senior executives, were told their final salary pension scheme was to close.

The stock exchange filing said: ‘During the third quarter of 2007, we reached agreements with the active members of these plans to freeze future pension plan benefits.’

The scheme offered no compensation to the employees who had to change schemes.

CBRE said the gain was a technical accounting matter, but declined to comment further.