RubinBrown LLP is merging in FLS Group LLC, effective Dec. 1, 2017, extending the St. Louis-based Top 100 Firm’s footprint to Chicago.
This combination will help RubinBrown grow its national real estate practice with a bigger presence in the Midwest. Five partners and 37 staff members from FLS Group will be joining RubinBrown, which already has 108 partners and 557 staff.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. RubinBrown ranked No. 46 on Accounting Today’s 2017 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $86.07 million in annual revenue. FLS Group had $5.5 million in annual revenue.
RubinBrown’s Real Estate Service Group is currently led by partner-in-charge Bryan Keller. The firm expects to leverage FLS’s expertise in real estate services, which make up approximately 80 percent of FLS’s annual revenue. FLS managing member Bruce Schiff has more than 30 years of experience in affordable housing finance, including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
“Similar to RubinBrown, FLS Group specializes in the affordable housing industry, and the company is recognized as the dominant LIHTC firm in the State of Illinois,” Keller said in a statement. “The combination of our two firms will allow us to create a niche office focused solely on providing real estate services in the heart of the Midwest real estate market.”
Chris Langley, a partner in RubinBrown’s Real Estate Services Group, is relocating to Chicago to become the managing partner of the firm’s new Chicago office. He has more than 25 years of accounting and finance experience, including 15 years with RubinBrown's Real Estate Service Group.
