Australia - DLA Piper has advised long standing client Investa Commercial Property Fund on its full acquisition of the Maritime Trade Tower at 201 Kent Street, Sydney.

Invest Commercial Property Fund has purchased the additional 50 percent of the property for AU$173 million from DEXUS Property Group.

The acquisition is the latest in a string of Invest Commercial Property Fund deals in the past 12 months, the fund has acquired assets worth more than AU$313 million in the last financial year.

Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised German private equity firm Aurelius Group (“Aurelius”) on the acquisition of Scholl’s international footwear division from Reckitt Benckiser Group plc.

Under the agreement, Aurelius will acquire the international rights for the Scholl footwear business, excluding North and South America.

Stephenson Harwood LLP has advised Cofely, a wholly owned subsidiary of GDF SUEZ, on its purchase of Lend Lease’s UK facilities management business (LLFM).

Allen & Overy has advised Imperial Tobacco Group PLC on its transformational acquisition of the U.S. Winston, Kool, Salem and Maverick tobacco cigarette brands and the U.S./UK blu e-cigarette brand from Reynolds American Inc following its acquisition of Lorillard Inc – tripling Imperial’s U.S. market share.

We have advised Birmingham City University (BCU) on the acquisition of the top four floors of the New Technology Institute in the city’s Bartholomew Row in Eastside.

The 28,000 sq ft purchase is the city's largest office transaction of the year and will be the location for the university’s administrative function and official head office. The building will be fully refurbished before the university takes occupancy in September 2014 before the start of the new academic year.

DLA Piper has acted for Greencoat UK Wind PLC ("Greencoat") on the acquisition of Maerdy Wind Farm, an operational wind farm project in Wales. Located in the Rhonda Valley in South Wales, the acquisition forms part of Greencoat's strategic growth, increasing the net generating capacity by 24MW.

Greencoat invests in operational UK wind farms, and was the first renewable infrastructure fund to list on the London Stock Exchange main market. It is also the only infrastructure fund or renewable infrastructure fund based in the UK.

Irwin Mitchell’s Real Estate Team has advised Redefine International, the income focussed REIT on its acquisition of a Travelodge Hotel at Lumina Park in Enfield, London, for £10 million. They are a new client For London real estate team
 

The Renewable Energy team from Burges Salmon has assisted in securing seabed rights for a total of four wave and tidal energy zones for its clients Minesto and Wave Hub in a leasing process managed by The Crown Estate.

Swedish marine energy technology company Minesto has acquired the rights to a tidal stream project site at Holyhead Deep, off the Welsh coast.

Wave Hub has acquired the rights to manage and sublease parts of three wave and tidal current demonstration zones off the coast of North Cornwall, North Devon and South Pembrokeshire.

Dentons has advised Solarwatt GmbH on the acquisition of the distribution units of the Centrosolar brand in Europe. Centrosolar is under insolvency proceedings; its two major European distribution units in France and the Netherlands, however, are not insolvent. Solarwatt now takes them over together with the exclusive usage rights in the Centrosolar brand for the entire European market. This transaction is an opportunity for Solarwatt to extend further its market position in Europe and its portfolio.

Herbert Smith Freehills' London Private Equity team,  has advised Antin Infrastructure Partners ("Antin") on the completion of its first deal out of their recently closed Fund II, with the acquisition of BG Group's majority stake in the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) gas pipeline in the UK North Sea and associated infrastructure.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Antin now owns a 62.78% interest in CATS. The consideration is up to £562 million (including a potential deferred amount of £39 million) and the deal closed on 10 July 2014.