Today, MRI Software, a global leader in PropTech, announced its acquisition of LeaseEagle, an Australian-based company that offers commercial property lease management solutions to tenants in various sectors including corporate, retail, and healthcare. Founded in 2005, LeaseEagle’s software is currently used by clients to manage over 50,000 locations across Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
This acquisition is particularly timely given the COVID-19 pandemic and the rent relief amendments made to the International Financial Reporting Standard IFRS-16 in 2020. The amendments may still be relevant in 2022 for commercial tenants affected by the pandemic. LeaseEagle’s advanced cloud-based software not only ensures compliance with complex accounting standards but also reduces the risk of missing critical lease dates. It simplifies detailed occupancy analysis across multiple real estate assets, provides data-driven reporting for better decision-making, saves time, and improves accuracy with automated invoicing, thus increasing business process efficiency significantly.
MRI Software’s managing director and senior vice president (Asia Pacific), David Bowie, believes that adding LeaseEagle to MRI’s existing suite of integrated workplace management systems (IWMS) and unique AI-based lease abstraction and intelligence solutions is a strategic move.
The value of commercial property deals in 2021 almost doubled compared to the previous year due to the extensive rewriting of property leases. However, this growth and change bring significant risk to organizations. To help clients mitigate this risk, MRI has acquired the right solutions and expertise.
According to Mr. Bowie, many tenants faced complex lease terms over the last 18 months, which can result in costly manual errors. Compliance and accuracy with data-intensive lease accounting standards are also challenging for large tenants. LeaseEagle solves these problems by centralizing lease and franchise information, providing real-time reporting and integrating process automation. The acquisition of LeaseEagle by MRI will enable the company to provide these benefits to its clients.
LeaseEagle’s CEO and founder, Lee Trevena, believes that joining the MRI family will provide LeaseEagle customers with the best of both worlds. They will have access to the world’s best real estate expertise, innovation, client service, and support resources, while still maintaining everything they know and love about LeaseEagle. LeaseEagle is a trusted source of lease management for well-loved brands, and MRI’s client-centric culture and talent acquisition strategy make this acquisition a perfect fit. The LeaseEagle team looks forward to adding to MRI’s legacy of delivering the best value to its customers.
COVID-19 impacts IFRS-16/AASB-16/NZ IFRS-16 standard compliance
Starting from January 1, 2019, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB), and the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board (NZASB) required companies to fully comply with the new lease accounting standards, known as IFRS-16 globally, and AASB-16 and NZ-IFRS-16 in Australia and New Zealand. As a result, companies must provide more complex lease reporting data across the entire lease and option periods. Additionally, COVID-19 rent relief amendments, initially introduced in 2020, may continue to apply into 2022 for commercial tenants impacted by the pandemic.
Non-compliance with these regulations is not an option for affected companies. LeaseEagle, a provider of reporting, analysis, and data management solutions, helps clients maintain compliance while managing their already demanding workload of commercial tenants with multiple sites during these unprecedented times.
MRI Software, a provider of real estate software solutions, has recently acquired LeaseEagle as its fifth acquisition of PropTech innovators in Australia and New Zealand. Other recent acquisitions in the Asia Pacific region include Box+Dice, Palace, and WhosOnLocation in 2021, as well as Rockend in August 2019.
