International law firm Clifford Chance acted as advisor to AEW Europe on the acquisition and the financing, on behalf of a newly established partnership between a subsidiary of China Investment Corporation (CIC) and an affiliate of AEW Europe, from the CBRE Retail Property Fund France Belgium CV ("RPFFB"), of the "Celsius" portfolio which comprises 10 shopping centres across France and Belgium.

Totalling circa 221,000 sqm, the Celsius Portfolio comprises interests in the Waasland and Wijnegem shopping centres, two dominant regional shopping centres located near Antwerp in Belgium. The remaining eight assets are located across France, including large urban shopping centres La Vache Noire in Paris and Centre Mayol in Toulon, as well as some smaller retail parks and factory outlets.

A number of leading brands, such as H&M, Zara, Hollister, FNAC, Monoprix and Peek & Cloppenburg, are currently represented across the portfolio.

Clifford Chance acted as advisor to AEW Europe and CIC, for the acquisition and the financing of the portfolio, with a team led in Paris by Francois Bonteil (partner), Karen Bortolotti (counsel), Karine Smith, David Gérard, Cyrille Rumen, Sophie Périnot and Stéphane Trotier on transactional aspects, Eric Davoudet and Alexandre Lagarrigue (partners), Charles-Henri de Gouvion Saint-Cyr (counsel) and Omar el Arjoun on tax aspects and Emmanuel Durand (partner) on antitrust aspects.

The matter has been led locally in Brussels by Henri d'Ursel and Thierry Blockerye (partners), Pieter De Bock (counsel), Alexandre Ooms, Hélène Volkova, Lise Gruber, Sara Eggermont and Matthias Maselis, in Luxembourg by Christian Kremer, Marc Mehlen and Francois-Xavier Dujardin (partners), Maxime Budzin, Nicolas Widung, Mélissa Kdyem, Frédérique Davister, Olivier Kronshagen and Diogo Dias as well as in Amsterdam by Jaap Koster (partner), Liesbeth Buiter (counsel) and Jasper Dijkshoorn.