Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but senior management, brokers and other employees of Colliers Monroe Friedlander retain minority ownership of the business founded in Honolulu in 1973.

Assuming majority control of the Hawai'i company is Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc., a real estate firm based out of Vancouver and Seattle that does business as Colliers International and is owned by Toronto-based FirstService.

FirstService is a diversified firm with more than 16,000 employees and $1.5 billion in annual revenue from businesses in commercial real estate, residential property management, security, home improvement and storage industries.

Publicly traded FirstService acquired majority ownership of Colliers Macaulay Nicolls in 2004.

Colliers Macaulay Nicolls operates 157 offices in 26 countries and reported about $700 million in annual revenues.

In Hawai'i, Colliers Monroe Friedlander has a staff of about 100 in two offices, and manages more than five million square feet of property. The company did not disclose annual revenue.

Colliers Monroe Friedlander was co-founded 34 years ago as Monroe & Friedlander Inc. by Andrew Friedlander and Donald Monroe.

The company shifted from being an independent real estate firm in 1998 when it merged with Colliers International Property Consultants Inc., a global network of more than 200 commercial real estate firms, of which Colliers Macaulay Nicolls is the largest.

Friedlander in 2005 stepped down as chief executive officer to become the company's principal broker. Morgan Stanley investment manager James Piane was named chief executive. Monroe at the time remained chairman of the board.

FirstService, which announced the acquisition, did not say whether executive officers of Colliers Monroe Friedlander would change.