AF Group ASA, listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE-AFG), a leading international civil engineering and construction group headquartered in Oslo, has acquired the renowned Swiss engineering and construction planning company Edy Toscano AG with 370 employees. Together with AF Consult Switzerland AG, AF Group will be among the three largest Swiss engineering and construction planning companies with a combined turnover in Switzerland exceeding CHF 100 million.
The infrastructure group Comsa has reached an agreement with a group of eight Spanish banks to refinance its debt worth €719 million.
The banks involved are Bankia, Bankinter, BBVA, CaixaBank, Popular, Sabadell, Santander and Unicaja, who have granted a syndicated loan to be repaid in four and a half years. They have established a convertible debt tranche amounting to €250 million for 50% of the capital in 2021.
Gateway Real Estate AG has acquired a shopping center in Bavaria near Regensburg, and the transfer of the benefits and burdens is planned to take place soon. This involves the Abensberg shopping center with a total property area of 23,360 m² and 12,338 m² lettable space with an occupancy ratio of 100 % and annual rent income of almost 1.9 million Euro.
The various larger and smaller lease units have a high standard and include a broad range of different types of tenants. More than 70 specialty shops and large stores attract a broad range of customers.
The building and real estate management agency of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW BLB) is selling the Ulmer Höh’ correctional facility in Düsseldorf, a site of some 35,000 square meters. The property is one of the last large open spaces near the city center. The former buildings of the correctional facility will be torn down except for the prison chapel.
We advised Renor Oy in the sale of the shares of Karistonkulma Oy. The property was sold to Nordic property investor Hemsö.
The 4,700 m² office property is located in downtown Hämeenlinna and it is wholly leased to Senate Properties, which administers premises used by Finnish governmental bodies. The users of the sold property are comprised of the Administrative Court of Hämeenlinna, the District Court of Kanta-Häme and the Enforcement Office of Kanta-Häme.
Hannes Snellman has been engaged as counsel to YIT Corporation in the Tripla hotel project. YIT has signed a letter of intent on the implementation of the hotel for the Tripla project in Central Pasila, Helsinki. The hotel will be operated by Sokotel Oy, and the investor will be a new limited partnership managed by Exilion Management Oy with Elo Pension Company and Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta as owners. The intention is to sign the final project agreements in early 2017. The hotel is scheduled for completion in early 2020.
Ezdan Holding Group is a listed Qatar Public Shareholding Company and is one of the region's pre-eminent and largest real estate developers and investors. This financing is another successful and strategic financing for Ezdan and was oversubscribed by over 1.5 times. It follows the launch of its debut US$500 million Sukuk issuance earlier this year. Mashreqbank, Dubai Islamic Bank and HSBC Bank Middle East Limited were the bookrunners and initial mandated lead arrangers and were joined by seven other participant banks consisting of regional and international banks.
Jones Day advised Pandox AB in its €415 million (US$440 million) acquisition of seven hotels in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, from Invesco Real Estate European Hotel Real Estate Fund II FCP - SIP. The acquisition comprises the following hotels: NH Collection Hamburg, NH Frankfort Airport, NH Munich Airport, Radisson Blu Cologne, NH Salzburg, NH Vienna, and Park Hotel Amsterdam.
In addition to M&A representation, Jones Day provided antitrust and regulatory advice regarding this transaction.
Hannes Snellman acted as counsel to VVO Group plc. in its disposal of 1,344 non-restricted rental apartments to a company managed by Avant Capital Partners. The transaction is estimated to be closed by February 2017. The assets in the portfolio are located in 20 different cities across Finland.
Our core team in Helsinki comprised Tapio Teräkivi, Kaisa Mansikkamäki, Katja Heikkinen, and Ninja Heikkilä.
Ashurst has advised Oxford Properties on the refinancing and the 50% joint venture sale of King Edward Court (headquarters of the London Stock Exchange) and St Martins Court (CBRE's London headquarters) to Madison International Realty for c£200 million.
Ashurst previously advised Oxford Properties on the acquisition and financing of both King Edward Court in 2013 and St Martins Court in 2012. Oxford Properties will act as asset manager for the new joint venture, taking Oxford's third party assets under management in Europe to C$1.8Bn.