Nabarro has advised the AXA Real Estate-led consortium on the acquisition of the Pinnacle site in the City of London into a newly-configured scheme developed by Lipton Rogers.

The AXA consortium is made up of four investors including AXA France.

Nabarro has led due diligence and negotiations for the consortium acting for AXA. Patrick Robinson from Herbert Smith led due diligence for planning, and construction advice was provided by Ann Minogue of McFarlanes. In addition, Nabarro's Funds and Indirect Real Estate team advised AXA France and led negotiations on setting up the consortium with the other investors being advised by Linklaters and Herbert Smith.

Leading the Nabarro team were Real Estate partners Simon Staite and Barry Morris, assisted by senior associate Paul O’Brien and associates Laura McKenzie and Tom Watkins. Partner Julie Gattegno and associate Michael Cox from the Real Estate Dispute Resolution team and Partner Alistair McGrigor and senior associate Rebecca Prigg from the Infrastructure, Construction and Energy team were also involved in the deal. The Nabarro team advising AXA France included Funds and Indirect Real Estate partner Amanda Howard, senior associate Tanveer Tarafdar and associate Patrick Groves.

Commenting on the deal, partner Simon Staite said:

“We were thrilled to be involved in the Pinnacle project, something that stalled in 2008 and is now going to be the tallest tower in the city at 945 ft. with over 1.25 million square feet of office space and a rooftop restaurant and viewing gallery. A year ago we acted on the acquisition of More London for circa £1.75 billion. The last 12 months have been fantastic for the firm.”

The consortium will withdraw consented plans for the 63-storey tower, and replace it with a simplified Sir Stuart Lipton and Peter Roger-led design of similar height and massing, but without the complex twisting profile that would have resulted in expensive building costs.

Chris de Pury from BLP acted on behalf of the seller.