International law firm Ashurst advised John Laing on its acquisition of the Finley Solar Farm, a greenfield solar project with a total capacity of 174.9 MWp to be constructed west of Finley in Berrigan Shire Council, New South Wales.

This is the second solar project investment for John Laing in Australia, following investment in Sunraysia Solar Farm in October, and will form part of a larger Asia Pacific renewable energy portfolio that includes investments in the Kiata Wind Farm in Victoria and the three stages of the Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia.

 The Court of Appeal’s Judgment has today been handed down in the Defendant’s appeal against the High Court judgment of Coulson J (as he then was) in the case of Grove Developments Limited v S&T(UK) Limited. The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal in all respects and has upheld the first instance judgment.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised developer and long-standing client RAL Development Services LLC (“RAL”) in connection with the acquisition and development of a US$190m mixed-use property in North Philadelphia.

Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa has advised Pangaea Investment Management, an associate of Chinese copper giant Jiangxi Copper, on a large and highly complex US$200 million platinum metal purchase transaction with the Lonmin group, the third largest global platinum producer. The funds were released to the Lonmin group from escrow in October 2018.

DLA Piper represented LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle) in the agreement to make a majority acquisition of the US$1.2 billion debt fund business of Latitude Management Real Estate Investors (Latitude). The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2019.

Latitude is a US-based commercial real estate lender providing short term, floating rate loans against middle-market commercial real estate assets owned by sponsors seeking targeted real estate solutions.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has advised Tishman Speyer in the successful close of its Tishman Speyer European Real Estate Venture VIII (“TSEV VIII”) fund.

TSEV VIII raised €750m, exceeding its fundraising target by 25% and receiving commitments from 20 investors across Europe, Asia and the Americas.