King & Wood Mallesons has advised Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) on the acquisition of Energy Australia’s Iona Gas Plant valued at $1.78 billion.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has advised an investment consortium made up of opportunistic funds managed by Blackstone, TPG Special Situations Partners (TSSP) and CarVal Investors (CarVal)  on the acquisition of a portfolio of first lien mortgage loans from GE’s UK Home lending business.  The loans have a face value of £3.8 billion (US$5.9 billion).

On 4 December 2015 SCOTT Corporation SA, Givisiez, acquired the wholesaling and retailing of bicycles, parts, accessories and apparel business of Australia and New Zealand based Sheppard Industries. The transaction was structured as purchase of assets by two newly established companies, Sheppard Cycles Australia Pty Ltd and Sheppard Cycles New Zealand Limited, both in which SCOTT holds the vast majority of shares.
 

With a team led by Dr. Armin Freiherr von Grießenbeck, Partner at its Munich office, Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advised Realogis Real Estate on the acquisition of two newly developed logistics facilities in Waiblingen near Stuttgart and in Langenau near Ulm. The seller of the logistics property portfolio of some 31,500 square meters is Habacker Holding. The purchase price was not disclosed.
 

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised NSW Electricity Networks (a consortium comprising Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hastings (as manager of Utilities Trust of Australia), Tawreed Investments Limited, Wren House Infrastructure and Spark Infrastructure Group) on its A$10.258 billion acquisition of the TransGrid high voltage electricity transmission network from the New South Wales Government.

The acquisition was financed with a A$5.5 billion limited recourse financing package provided by a syndicate of 12 domestic and international lenders.

Clifford Chance has advised China Construction Bank on the acquisition of the Bockenheimer Landstraße 73-77 property in Frankfurt.

The property includes an office building constructed in 1962, with a gross external area (GEA) of around 6,800 square metres, and a residential property of about 1,000 sqare metres GEA built in 1996. The seller is Frankfurt Union GmbH.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised CGN of China on its proposed US$2.3 billion acquisition of the energy assets of Edra Global Energy Berhad.

The assets include interests in 13 power plants in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

The signing of the transaction was formally announced on 23 November after a bid process during recent months.

Leading international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised funds managed and/or advised by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, TPG Special Situations Partners and CarVal Investors on their acquisition from General Electric of a US$5.8billion portfolio of UK home loans representing General Electric’s UK Home Lending portfolio.

This transaction is in line with GE’s on-going strategy to focus on its industrial business and to divest most of GE Capital’s assets. The transaction is expected to close in December 2015.

The Dentons Real Estate team has advised German fund Union Investment on the acquisition of a plot of land designated for the construction of the Holiday Inn Warsaw City Center. Union purchased the land from Austrian company UBM Development AG for its open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland.

The Dentons Real Estate team has advised LaSalle Investment Management on its first acquisition in Central Europe on behalf of Encore+, with the purchase of Futura Park, a shopping center in Wroclaw, Polish regional city, from IRUS FUND. The deal value is just over €27 million.

Encore+ is a diversified, European real estate fund which has been successfully co-managed by LaSalle Investment Management and Aviva Investors for almost 10 years.