Jones Day advised Hansteen Holdings PLC, a European industrial REIT, in connection with the refinancing of its German real estate portfolio through two loan facilities in the aggregate loan amount of €343 million (US$472 million).

The Company’s UniCredit loan has been refinanced with a €235 million five-year facility provided by a consortium of lenders including Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba), Natixis Pfandbriefbank AG, SEB AG and various entities managed or advised by AXA REIM SGP.

Ashurst has advised Telereal Trillium on the sale of the Hyperion portfolio to Legal & General.  The deal value was £550m and comprised 55 assets backed by The Royal Bank of Scotland.

The portfolio of 55 assets is located throughout the UK with one asset situated in Dublin.  It includes a number of landmark London buildings, such as the trophy building at 440 The Strand which is Coutts Headquarters together with 63-65 Piccadilly and 97 New Bond Street. 

The transaction involved the acquisition of the UK target company owning the assets.

Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright advised Chinese construction company CNQC Development Limited (CNQC) in an acquisition of 75 per cent of the issued share capital of Sunley Holdings Limited. The acquisition is at a consideration of HK$540 million.

The share purchase agreement was signed on 11 February 2014. Completion is expected to take place by end of March 2014 subject to the conditions to completion under the agreement.

DLA Piper has advised one of Australia’s largest real estate owners and managers, Investa Property Group, on its acquisition of a 50 percent stake in the iconic Piccadilly Centre in Sydney's CBD for AU$194.25 million.

The transaction will see Investa manage the office component of 133 Castlereagh Street, comprising a 32-storey A-grade office tower and neighbouring B-grade office tower, with ASX-listed Stockland Group managing the two storey retail shopping centre.

Osborne Clarke has advised long-standing client The UNITE Group plc (UNITE) on its £100 million Firm Placing and Placing and Open Offer (Issue) announced today. The Issue has been fully underwritten by joint bookrunners J.P. Morgan Cazenove, Numis Securities and Jefferies.

Osborne Clarke has advised long-standing client, global student accommodation specialist Campus Living Villages (CLV) on the acquisition of 8 student accommodation blocks from the administrators of Opal Property Group (Opal). The accommodation blocks were marketed following the collapse of Opal in March 2013.

The 8 blocks, described by property agent DTZ as ‘high quality stock’, are located in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Newport and Greenwich. The acquisition of the blocks represents a significant expansion of CLVs investment portfolio in the UK.

Invesco Real Estate has acquired on behalf of an institutional investor four InterCityHotels in the German cities of Darmstadt, Mainz, Frankfurt am Main (Airport) and Rostock from several vendors. The transaction value lies in the high double-digit million euro range.

In the case of each of the above entities, both companies have concluded new 30-year hybrid leases. In addition, extensive modernisation of individual entities was agreed upon.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin advised Invesco Real Estate on this transaction.

Ashurst advised a Luxembourg-based company managed by Alpina Real Estate on the acquisition of the office building Bülow Tower in Stuttgart. The property was sold by a real estate company owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Bülow Tower, comprising a rental area of almost 14,000 m², was built in 1991 and has recently been redeveloped.

Ashurst has advised Interserve, the international support services and construction group, on its proposed £250 million Class 1 acquisition of Initial Facilities, a facilities service business and subsidiary of Rentokil Initial Plc.

The proposed acquisition will be funded through a new bank facility, together with the net proceeds of a placing of up to 12,897,771 new ordinary shares, representing up to 9.99 per cent of Interserve's existing issued ordinary share capital.

Corporate partner Jonathan Earle commented:

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, advised Arcadis N.V., the global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm listed in the Netherlands, on the acquisition of the inProjects group and the Genesis group. These groups operate project management, store fitting and sourcing businesses in various jurisdictions across the Asian Pacific region including China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Macau.

The acquisition was announced on 03 March 2014.

CONTACTS

Corporate and Commercial: David Watkins (partner), Alana Lam (associate)