Slaughter and May advised SAV Credit, the leading independent credit card provider, and Tosca Funding plc, in relation to the purchase of Santander's retail co-brand credit card and point of sale finance business which closed on 10 May.

The purchase involved over 3.5 million customer accounts with more than £1 billion in receivables and leading retailers including Arcadia, Debenhams, House of Fraser and Laura Ashley, amongst others.

CONTACTS

LONDON, 10 May 2013 - Hogan Lovells has advised Constellation Hotels on the £301.5 million acquisition of the prestigious InterContinental Hotel, Park Lane, London.

The Middle Eastern private investment group also purchased the freehold interest in the property from The Crown Estate for £98.5 million.

Constellation Hotels has granted the InterContinental Hotels Group a 30 year management contract on the hotel, with three ten year extension rights, resulting in a total possible contract length of 60 years.

Slaughter and May advised Legal & General Property on the real estate investment purchase of the Sainsbury's superstore and petrol filling station at Lombardy Retail Park, Hayes from Aviva Investors Property Trust for £72.5 million. Legal & General has been granted two long overriding leases with the benefit of the existing leases to Sainsbury's.

Aviva Legal Services advised Aviva Investors Property Trust.

CONTACTS

Real Estate: Jane Edwarde (partner), Oliver Moir (associate), Simon Bartle (associate)

Irwin Mitchell Advises On Sale Of Site in Worcestershire

The Sheffield office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell has advised Hallam Land Management on a major deal in respect of a site at Evesham in Worcestershire, which will lead to the creation of 56 new homes as well as the development of public open space in the town.

The sale of the part-brownfield site in Evesham to Bovis Homes will provide both market and affordable housing close to the centre of Evesham, overlooking the River Avon.

International law firm Olswang has advised Calculus Capital, a specialist private equity investor, on its first investment in the restaurant sector with Mexican-themed Benito's Hat. Calculus' involvement covers most of the £1.4m capital injected into the business to facilitate the roll-out of more restaurants over the next few years.

Founded in 2008 by Ben Fordham and Felipe Fuentes Cruz, Benito's hat is a fast-casual restaurant business with four sites in central London. The investment by Calculus will help to raise the number of sites to 10 by the end of 2014.

Clifford Chance advised IVG Institutional Funds GmbH on the acquisition of the "Zeil 24" retail property located in Frankfurt. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

IVG has acquired the property located on Frankfurt's premier shopping street in a so-called "club deal" for two real estate special funds of institutional investors. The property with rental space of almost 7,800 sqm is leased out on a long-term basis to the Irish clothing group Primark. IVG takes over fund and asset management of the property.

International law firm Pinsent Masons has advised Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG (Schaidt Innovations) on the acquisition of a manufacturing plant from Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (HBAS).

DLA Piper served as lead counsel to Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. and Menora Mivtahim Insurance Ltd. in a joint venture with Beacon Investment Properties LLC to acquire Minneapolis’ IDS Center.

Purchased from Inland American Real Estate Trust for US$253 million, the 57-story IDS Center includes as its tenants some of the Twin Cities’ top law firms, including DLA Piper, as well as several retailers and restaurants. The 1.4 million square foot architectural landmark is the tallest office tower in Minnesota.

Global legal practice Squire Sanders has advised listed residential property company, Deutsche Wohnen AG, on the acquisition of a real estate portfolio of approximately 6,900 units in Berlin from Luxembourg affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe III. The purchase price for the acquisition consists of €260 million in cash and 8,150,000 new shares, which will result in the Blackstone Funds becoming a 5% shareholder in Deutsche Wohnen. The acquisition will complete following merger clearance and registration of the capital increase with the commercial register.

Ashurst advised Oxford Properties on its acquisition of King Edward Court, 10 Paternoster Square, London, EC4, the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of companies, for £235 million reflecting an initial yield of 5.3%.

King Edward Court, the 246,000 sq ft headquarters of the London Stock Exchange was designed by Eric Parry Architects and Sheppard Robson and was completed in 2003 as part of the Japanese developer's landmark Paternoster Square development surrounding St Paul's Cathedral.