DLA Piper represented W. P. Carey Inc., a publicly traded REIT,  in a merger with CPA:16, its publicly held, non-traded REIT affiliate, in a transaction valued at approximately US$4 billion.

Slaughter and May advised Derwent London on the sale of its 50% interest in 1-5 Grosvenor Place, London SW1 to Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels ('Peninsula Hotels') for £132.5 million and on the exit from its joint venture with Grosvenor for the development of the site. Grosvenor and Peninsula Hotels will work together towards the development of the 1.5 acre plot, next to Hyde Park Corner, as a luxury residential and six star hotel scheme.
 
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London; Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Commerz Real on the £260 million sale of the Lloyd’s of London building to a large Chinese insurer.

The distinctive Richard Rogers-designed office tower in the City of London is the headquarters of Lloyd’s of London, the world’s leading insurance market.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s real estate team advised a fund managed by Commerz Real, part of the Commerzbank Group and a long term client of the practice, on all aspects of the sale.

Global law firm Eversheds has advised contemporary property developer Urban Splash and its shareholders on a business restructure, involving the creation of a new holding company called Urban Splash Holdings.

The new management company and a number of the asset holding companies are entirely free from bank debt and will be the entities via which Urban Splash will undertake new projects going forward; both on their own and in joint venture partnerships.

Dentons has advised Starwood Capital Group on the purchase by an affiliate of the firm of “the PARK” business complex in Prague, Czech Republic from Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland AG. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Europa Capital real estate fund management company purchased the Vista skyscraper for Europa Fund IV, its pan-European fund.  It repurchased the building from the fund managed by Pramerica Real Estate Investors.

The 22-floor building overlooking the Seine river to the south of the La Défense business center, just outside of Paris, holds the offices of Eurogroup Consulting and Reed Expositions France, its primary tenants. This 16700m² building was constructed in 1973, and was extensively renovated in 2007.

Macfarlanes has acted on behalf of Canary Wharf Group plc (CWG) on its acquisition of 15 Westferry Circus from Gort Limited (in administration) and Hibernia (2005) Limited (in administration).

The transaction saw CWG pay approximately £128m as consideration for the asset, as well as take a novation of the existing senior swap which has an estimated value of £11.4m and matures in April 2016.  The purchase price is being fully funded by way of a new loan provided by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

National law firm Irwin Mitchell's real estate division has advised long standing client Gazeley on the sale of 64 acres of land at G.Park Crick in Northampton to wholesaler Costco. Costco plans to build a 565,000 sq ft distribution centre at the site once it obtains planning, which is expected later this year.
 
As part of the deal, Gazeley will acquire Costco’s existing 155,000 sq ft distribution centre, which was built by Gazeley at its UK development site, Magna Park Lutterworth.
 

Global law firm Eversheds has acted on the letting of all 17 floors of The Place at London Bridge Quarter to News UK. This includes some of the UK’s most illustrious media brands, including Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Sunday Times, Times Literary Supplement, The Sun, and one of the world’s leading book publishers, Harper Collins.

Eversheds acted for the landlord – a joint venture between the State of Qatar and Sellar Property. This is a landmark transaction, with a single lease for a term of 30 years.

Allen & Overy has advised HB Reavis Group, a leading commercial property developer in CEE, on the sale of Apollo Business Center IV, a Class A office complex in Bratislava, to Ceska pojistovna, the largest Czech insurance company, part of the leading European insurance corporation Generali Group.