DLA Piper have represented Wereldhave on the sale of nearly its entire UK property portfolio in disposals for approximately £243,000,000.

A portfolio of London properties was sold to British Land, including the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre, which was sold by way of a share disposal, and four retail and office properties located in Baker Street, Chiswick High Road, Putney High Street and Fulham Road. The transaction completed on 8th February.

Separately, the Dolphin and Towngate Shopping Centres in Poole were sold to Legal & General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited. Contract were exchanged on 8th February and the transaction completed on 25th February.

These transactions mark Wereldhave's exit from the UK. John Laker, Managing Director of Wereldhave UK said: "The sale of these assets are in-line with our plans to consider our strategic options in the UK. Moving forward, we are looking forward to consolidating our place as a leading shopping centre investor in Europe and to exploring new opportunities."

Mark Beardwood (partner, Real Estate) led the DLA Piper team, which included fellow Real Estate partner Philip Rooney, Corporate associate Edmund Chan and Tax partner Mark Burgess. Other members of the Real Estate team included Legal Director Richard Thompson, associate Sylvia Shepherd and solicitors Caroline Cockrell and Lauren Poole. Dutch law advice was provided by Erwin Van Elst from DLA Piper's Amsterdam office.

Mark Beardwood commented: "This was a great team effort and resulted in contracts being exchanged on the same day with two different purchasers, which was remarkable given the extremely demanding timetable to which we were working. Good working relationships were established with the lawyers acting for the purchasers; which helped considerably."

British Land were represented by a team from SJ Berwin led by real estate partners Ed Page and Michael Scott and senior Real Estate associate Michael Goldberg and senior real estate associate Richard Lloyd.

Legal & General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited were represented by Maples Teesdale, led by Real Estate Partner Declan Power and with a team including Real Estate associate Shehrnaz Dolasa.

Richard Beentjes, Director legal, transactions and communications at Wereldhave N.V. commented: "DLA have been advising us in the disposal of our entire UK portfolio. A complicating factor was that there were two separate but interwoven transactions, to be finalised on the same day. These two transactions were rather complicated because of legal issues arising in both the Netherlands and the UK and Mark and his team did a great job and ensured a timely, well-managed close to the deal."

http://www.dlapiper.com/dla-piper-advise-wereldhave-on-uk-exit-02-28-20…