In 2005, the group attempted to acquire the Grubb & Ellis company, the 4th world largest integrated commercial real estate services company with over 6,000 employees working globally through 150 offices. The purpose of acquiring Grubb & Ellis for over $110 million was to establish, in one big step, a global merchant banking group focused on small and medium size corporate customers, the core business of Grubb & Ellis. The Board of Grubb & Ellis refused the Defoe Fournier's all-cash offer and a few months later was still forced to sell the company, via an ill-timed merger, to NNN Realty Advisers Inc.