Addleshaw Goddard's Real Estate and Construction teams have advised key client UPP, on the c. £105m landmark transaction with the University of London, for a new central London student accommodation scheme.

The 511-bed student accommodation development in Stratford, was funded by c. £87m of senior debt from Pension Insurance Corporation PLC, with a senior debt investment graded AA-rated wrap provided by Assured Guaranty, UPP and the University also invested a combined c. £18m of equity and subordinated debt.

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has advised a consortium comprising Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and Power Assets Holdings Limited on its proposed A$7.3bn acquisition of ASX-listed energy company DUET Group.

The acquisition will be executed by way of schemes of arrangement and a trust scheme.

The Australian team was led by projects partner Louis Chiam, M&A partner David Eliakim, M&A senior associate Daniel Natale and projects senior associate Jonathan Mitchell.

The Priora group closed a block trade transaction involving the acquisition of a large minority stake in the Swiss listed Galenica AG. Priora disclosed a 10% interest in Galenica whose market capitalization is CHF 7.5 billion.

Bär & Karrer acted as legal advisor to Priora. The team included Ralph Malacrida, Micha Schilling (both M&A), Mani Reinert (Competition), Daniel Lehmann (Tax) and Florian Roth (M&A).

Addleshaw Goddard’s Manchester based Real Estate and Banking teams worked together to advise commercial property company Bruntwood, a key client of the firm, in securing a £115.5m fifteen year loan from Aviva Investors.

This significant deal will reinforce Bruntwood’s continual growth in the UK’s regional cities, and feed, in particular, into the company’s development activities at the Circle Square site, an exciting new high rise neighbourhood on the former BBC premises in Manchester City Centre, upon which AG are also advising.

The business law firm of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advised DC Values Group on the acquisition of three commercial buildings at Leipziger Platz 14, 15, and 16 in Berlin’s city center. The team led by Dr. Michael Dröge, Fabian G. Gaffron, and Dr. Sönke Görgens carried out the legal due diligence and negotiated the purchase contract. The seller of the properties is HGHI Holding GmbH. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
 

Pax Anlage AG, a real-estate company with a diversified portfolio of properties, listed on the SIX Swiss exchange (SIX: PAXN), and Baloise Life Ltd (Baloise) have entered into a transaction agreement pursuant to which Baloise will launch a public tender offer for the approx. 30 per cent of shares in free float at a price of CHF 1,600 per share. The offer is subject to customary conditions.

Lawyers from Dentons' Warsaw office advised Polimex-Mostostal, acting in consortium with Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe, on the negotiation of an annex to extend the deadline for the construction of a 1075 MW critical energy unit in Enea Wytwarzanie-Elektrownia Kozienice power plant in Poland.

The project was coordinated by Tomasz Janas, Partner in Energy and Natural Resources practice team, supported by Michal Drozdowicz, Counsel in Public Procurement practice team, and Malgorzata Bluszcz-Riccardi, Senior Associate in Energy and Natural Resources practice team.

Hill Dickinson’s corporate team has advised Manchester-based property services company Styles&Wood on its acquisition of The GDM Group for £4m.

GDM is a specialist mechanical, electrical and environmental consultancy which employs 50 staff from its Dartford headquarters in Kent. It services some of the UK’s largest property owners across a range of sectors including retail, education, commercial offices and data centres.  

Hill Dickinson corporate partner Jonathan Gillow advised on the deal, alongside associate Sean Lightfoot.

Allen & Overy LLP has advised Munich-based developer and operator International Campus Group (IC) on launching a student housing fund under Luxembourg law with an equity volume of EUR 600 million. The fund’s target volume should reach up to EUR 1 billion. The main investors in the fund, which goes by the name of The FIZZ Student Housing Fund S.C.S., are Allianz and another European investor.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised SNC-Lavalin on the sale to Ciclad and Impact Holding of its ongoing activities in France and Monaco. The transaction was completed on December 30, 2016.

The transaction comprises the disposal of SNC-Lavalin’s O&M business of 19 airports located in medium-size cities in France, 13 infrastructure engineering agencies and its maintenance and operation facility of Rouen’s port. These activities include approximately 1,100 employees.