Herbert Smith Freehills has acted for a Brookfield Office Properties and Oxford Properties joint venture on the pre-letting of the whole of One London Wall Place to fund manager Schroders. The transaction is believed to be the largest pre-let in the City of London since 2010.

The Herbert Smith Freehills cross-practice team (which comprised over 20 lawyers) was led by real estate partners, Donald Rowlands, Head of UK/EMEA Real Estate, and David Rosen.

Davis Polk advised Bestgain Real Estate Lyra Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Vanke Co., Ltd. (China Vanke), in connection with its Regulation S issue of S$140 million 3.275% guaranteed notes due 2017 under its US$2 billion medium-term note program. The notes were guaranteed by China Vanke's wholly owned subsidiary Vanke Real Estate (Hong Kong) Company Limited and supported by a keepwell deed and an equity purchase undertaking from China Vanke. 

White & Case LLP has advised Emlak Konut Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi A.S., Turkey’s largest real estate investment company, on its secondary public offering raising total gross proceeds of US$1.6 billion.

Taylor Wessing has advised Tritax Big Box REIT plc on the acquisitions of Baljean Properties Limited and Ekistics Property 1 Unit Trust. Baljean Properties Limited is the holding company of a 900,000 sq.ft regional distribution centre in Castle Donington, Leicestershire, which was purpose built for Marks & Spencer. Tritax Big Box REIT plc paid a consideration of £82.6m. A consideration of £48.8m was paid for Ekistics Property 1 Unit Trust, the holding vehicle of a 585,000 sq.ft warehouse in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds, which is let to J Sainsbury.

Simpson Thacher advised Brixmor Property Group Inc., a Blackstone portfolio company, on its $948.8 million initial public offering of common stock.  BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo Securities were the joint bookrunners and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. The common stock began trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “BRX” on October 30, 2013.

Paul Hastings advised Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE: LXP), a leading real estate investment trust focused on single-tenant real estate investments across the nation, in connection with its follow-on public offering.

The company sold an aggregate of 11,500,000 common shares, including 1,500,000 common shares issued pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The transaction raised gross proceeds of approximately $128.5 million for the company.

Watson, Farley & Williams has advised US logistics developer Panattoni Europe (“Panattoni”) on the legal and tax aspects in relating to the sale of two logistics buildings in Bremen and Bodenheim near Mainz, Germany, to Goodman Princeton Holdings, a joint venture between the US REIT Chambers Street Properties and the logistics building specialist Goodman.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin has acted on a series of recent high profile lettings at 10 Brock Street, Regent's Place for British Land.

10 Brock Street is now the new London headquarters for a diverse set of major occupiers such as Debenhams, Facebook, Manchester City Football Club and Whitefoord LLP.  The highest rent achieved was £71.00 per sq ft.

Emperor International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 0163, “Emperor Int’l”), through its wholly owned subsidiary, Big Right Investment Limited (“Big Right”), issued its inaugural USD listed notes today, raising a total of US$110 million. Eversheds acted as the transaction counsel for the joint lead managers for the deal consisting of Emperor Securities Limited, Guotai Junan Securities (Hong Kong) Limited and China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. Hong Kong Branch.

Slaughter and May advised Grosvenor on the sale of 11-15 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1 for £114 million to Wainbridge Estates Belgravia Limited. It is intended that the property will be redeveloped into 80,000 sq.ft of high-end residential apartments with a gross development value of over £350 million. The façade of the grade II listed building and its listed elements will be retained and restored. The agreement was conditional on planning and also included detailed overage provisions relating to sales proceeds. Completion of the development is expected in 2017.

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