Olswang advised long-standing client F&C REIT in a transaction to acquire the Dollar shopping centre portfolio in a club deal from the Grosvenor Estate for a total consideration of approximately £250 million. 

With a £7 billion worth global portfolio of properties under management, F&C REIT now adds the 1.1m sq ft high-quality retail portfolio to its assets, with shopping centres in Burton (Coopers Square), Grimsby (Freshney Place) and Inverness (The Eastgate Centre).

DLA Piper has advised Etihad Airways on its investment of US$379 million in a 24% stake in Jet Airways as part of an extensive strategic alliance between the two airlines. This is the first investment by a foreign airline in an Indian airline since the Indian government liberalised its rules for the Indian aviation sector in September 2012.

The Manchester office of law firm, Irwin Mitchell, has advised Landmark Investments Group on a deal which sees the Bolton-based business purchase the ground rents for more than 600 properties across Salford.

Acquired from regeneration specialist, LPC Living, the portfolio consists of a number of sites including Hulton Square and Radclyffe Park.

Simmons & Simmons Advises China-Africa Investment and Development Co., Ltd. on its Acquisition of a Controlling Stake in Gold Mine Project in Africa

International law firm Simmons & Simmons has advised China-Africa Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (CAIDC) on its acquisition of a controlling stake in a gold mine project in Africa. CAIDC is a joint venture between Poly Technologies Inc. and China-Africa Development Fund, focusing on mining investment in Africa.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised QIC on the acquisition for $614.5 million of seven CBD buildings by QIC Funds from the Queensland Government and the leaseback of those buildings to the Queensland Government. The deal involved the creation of new investment funds to acquire the buildings, the negotiating and drafting of the acquisition agreements and lease terms with the State and associated debt funding arrangements.

DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach has advised VIG Fund, a fund subsidiary of the Vienna Insurance Group, on the acquisition of the Prague commercial centre "BB C building C". After restructuring measures in the target, the transaction was structured as a share deal.

The Leeds office of national law firm, Irwin Mitchell, has advised Henry Boot Developments on its deal to acquire the former Terry’s chocolate factory in York.

The historic, 27-acre site, dubbed ‘The Chocolate Works’, has been bought by Henry Boot Developments together with York housebuilder, David Wilson Homes, from owners GHT Developments (Grantside) for an undisclosed sum.

International technology, media and telecommunications law firm Olswang has acted for Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc (NYSE: SNI), in its acquisition of the Asian Food Channel (AFC), a leading food-focused lifestyle pay television network in Southeast Asia.

Ashurst advised CBRE Global Investors on the acquisition of a self-service department store for its Pan European Core Fund (PEC) in Dusseldorf.

The property is located 1 km south of Dusseldorf's city centre and has a total area of almost 12,500 square meters. The main tenant is Real. The purchase price amounts to more than €25 million. This is the tenth investment of the fund and already the fourth in Germany.
 

Tokyo: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised MGPA on behalf of  MGPA Asien Spezialfonds, which targets German-speaking institutional investors on two property investments in Japan. The investments comprise the acquisition of two Tokyo office buildings, South Shin Otsuka building in Otsuka and Shinjuku TX building in Shinjuku. These transactions are MGPA Asien Spezialfonds first investments in Japan with both transactions closing in March. The fund is launched on the administration platform of the German investment company Universal-Investment.