Partnership with CRIC will offer global and domestic investors better access to China's fast growing real estate industry
HONG KONG, March 18 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Gerson Lehrman Group, the global marketplace for expertise, today announced that China Real Estate Information Corporation (Nasdaq: CRIC), a leading provider of online and offline real estate information and consulting services in China, has become a Premium Gerson Lehrman Group Council Partner. Through this relationship, senior managers from CRIC are available to share their knowledge and insight on the fast developing Chinese real estate industry with Gerson Lehrman Group clients globally.
Gerson Lehrman Group clients will be able to consult CRIC on real estate projects and industry issues in China. Clients will also have access to the latest real estate data from CRIC's main offering, CRIC System, the most comprehensive and advanced database that provides timely, in-depth, and accurate real estate information in China. "CRIC maintains the largest database of primary property market data in China, that can be segmented by region, city, developer, or project," says Brandon Sedloff, Practice Area Leader-Asia Real Estate, Gerson Lehrman Group. "CRIC's market data and local research teams provide valuable insights for real estate investors who need to stay apprised of market fundamentals, and anticipate changes to sentiment across China." Customized market research and other syndicated CRIC deliverables will be available to Gerson Lehrman Group clients, complementing the telephone calls, in-person meetings, surveys, and other Gerson Lehrman Group products to which they currently subscribe.
The real estate industry is one of China's fastest growing industries-in 2009 investment in the industry accounted for nearly 10% of the country's GDP. Future growth prospects remain strong and are supported by the world's largest consumer base, increasing urbanization, and the accumulation of personal wealth.
"We are very excited that CRIC has decided to become a Premium Gerson Lehrman Group Council Partner," says Phillip Pon, Managing Director, Asia Business Development, Gerson Lehrman Group. "Clients around the world have been asking questions about China's fast growing real estate market and CRIC's expertise will be a valuable complement to our offering."
"We decided to partner with Gerson Lehrman Group because their client base is unmatched in size and diversity in the expert network industry," says Martin Ding, Co-President, CRIC. "Through this partnership, CRIC gains a powerful distribution channel for its services-we can now market our services to Gerson Lehrman Group's more than 850 top-tier clients, worldwide.
Gerson Lehrman Group has operated in China since 2004, and has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Its global network of more than 250,000 experts includes more than 13,000 experts in China, who serve clients' increasing demand for expertise in the region. Gerson Lehrman Group experts are organized into Councils based on their individual expertise-these Councils include: Accounting & Financial Analysis; Consumer Goods & Services; Energy & Industrials; Financial & Business Services; Healthcare; Legal, Economic & Regulatory Affairs; Real Estate; and Technology, Media & Telecommunications.
Through the Council Partner Program, Gerson Lehrman Group has formed enterprise-level partnerships with leading professional service firms around the world that help Gerson Lehrman Group clients forge closer relationships with a broader network of global experts. Council Partner firms range from two-person consulting organizations to advisory firms with more than 1,000 employees.
About Gerson Lehrman Group
Gerson Lehrman Group provides technology and services to support a marketplace for expertise. Since 1998, its platform for consultation and collaboration has helped the world's leading financial services firms, consultancies, corporations, and nonprofits find, engage, and manage experts in a broad range of industries and disciplines. Gerson Lehrman Group's unparalleled network of the world's leading expert consultants, known as the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils, includes more than 250,000 subject-matter experts who educate and provide insight to decision makers through a wide range of consulting methods, including telephone consultations, expert surveys, and seminars. Gerson Lehrman Group has invested in one of the world's most sophisticated infrastructures for expert recruiting and compliance. For more information about Gerson Lehrman Group, please visit http://www.glgroup.com .
About China Real Estate Information Corporation
China Real Estate Information Corporation (or "CRIC") is the leading provider of online and offline real estate information and consulting services in China. CRIC began operations in 2006 as E-House (China) Holdings Limited's real estate information and consulting business unit, and in October 2009, merged with SINA Corporation's online real estate business following the completion of its initial public offering on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "CRIC". Initially created as an internal resource to support E-House's real estate services, the CRIC System is an advanced and comprehensive real estate information database and analysis system that CRIC has been operating in-house since 2001. As of June 30, 2009, CRIC provided real estate data through CRIC System covering 56 cities, over 38,200 developments or buildings, and over 24,200 parcels of land for development throughout China. CRIC's internet operations provide region-specific real estate information, as well as access to online communities covering numerous cities across China. CRIC maintains a business partnership with SINA that creates substantial synergies by providing real estate developer clients access to SINA's large internet user base and leveraging CRIC's established relationships with real estate developers to attract more advertising clients for SINA's real estate websites. Capitalizing on the proprietary CRIC System and China's largest real estate research and development team, CRIC provides a broad range of real estate services, including subscription-based information services, customized consulting services, advertising services and online services to real estate consumers, developers, brokers, agents, suppliers, material manufacturers, and other participants across the real estate industry value chain. For more information about China Real Estate Information Corporation, please visit http://www.cric.com .
About SINA
SINA Corporation (Nasdaq GS: SINA) is a leading online media company and mobile value-added service provider for China and for the global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized websites targeting Greater China and overseas Chinese, the Company provides services through five major business lines including SINA.com (online news and content), SINA Mobile (MVAS), SINA Community (Web 2.0-based services and games), SINA.net (search and enterprise services) and SINA E-Commerce (online shopping). Together these business lines provide an array of services, including region-focused online portals, MVAS, social networking service (SNS), blog, audio and video streaming, album, online games, email, search, classified listings, fee-based services, e-commerce and enterprise e-solutions. The Company generates the majority of its revenues from online advertising and MVAS offerings, and, to a lesser extent, from search and other fee-based services.
Gerson Lehrman Group and the Gerson Lehrman Group logo are registered trademarks of Gerson Lehrman Group (in the United States and other countries). Failure to list any other Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks does not constitute a waiver of any rights to any Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks, including unregistered trademarks. Other names included in this press release may also be the registered or unregistered trademarks of their respective owners.
