Baker McKenzie Madrid has advised Spanish Bank Restructuring Fund (FROB) and CatalunyaBanc (a Spanish bailed-out institution) on its EUR4.18 billion sale of a loan portfolio consisting mostly of residential mortgages. This deal constitutes the largest sale of a mortgage loan portfolio ever in Europe and the largest real estate transaction in Spain since the financial crises.

The sales process, known as "Project Hercules" and organized as an auction, started in April 2014 and was completed on 17 July with the award of the portfolio to Blackstone.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin advised Veolia on the signing of an agreement for the sale of its activities in Israel to investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.

Veolia designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. The company has been established in Israel for over 20 years and the sale reflects its strategy to concentrate on geographies where it can pursue less capital intensive opportunities.

Burges Salmon's Real Estate specialists have advised existing client Skanska on the sale of a significant development holding in Cambridge to developer Crest Nicholson for £35 million. 

The site, in the popular Trumpington area of Cambridge, is sold with planning permission for 274 homes. The land sale follows Skanska’s decision to focus its UK business on other investments, such as infrastructure and commercial developments.

Berlin – Berlinovo Immobilien Gesellschaft mbH has sold a self-managed real estate portfolio which comprises more than 15,000 residential units and over 900,000 square metres of rental space. This makes the transaction one of the biggest real estate deals of 2014 so far. The buyer is a consortium led by Berlin-based Westgrund AG. Berlinovo, a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal state of Berlin, started the sales process for the asset deal last year with a tender organised by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”), has advised BG Group plc affiliate Methane Services Ltd (“MSL”), on the US$930 million sale of six LNG carrier vessels to GasLog Ltd (“GasLog”).

The sale was completed via two deals, each involving three ships. The sale of the final three vessels to GasLog was completed at the end of June. This followed the previous sale of three vessels from MSL to GasLog, completed in April 2014.

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel's Australian subsidiaries on the sale of their Black Swan Nickel Project in Western Australia to Poseidon Nickel Limited (ASX:POS).

"This is the fourth asset sale on which Clifford Chance has advised Norilsk Nickel this year, following the sale of the Avalon, Cawse and its North-Eastern Goldfields Operations," said partner Justin Harris.

Irwin Mitchell’s real estate team has advised Prestbury on the sale of a portfolio of the remaining seven care homes of the original 20 care homes, formerly operated by care home operator Southern Cross.
 

Allen & Overy LLP has advised CORESTATE on the sale of a real-estate portfolio comprising approximately 8,200 units to ADLER Real Estate AG by way of a share deal.

The sale is the largest yet in the property investor's history. The portfolio comprises more than 7,700 residential and 490 commercial units which are located all over Germany, with main focuses in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and North Rhine-Westphalia. The total lease area of the portfolio units is around 542,000 square metres. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

A Travers Smith team, led by Private Equity partner Ian Shawyer, has advised all selling shareholders, including Graphite Capital, on the sale of the award-winning residential developer, London Square Development (Equity) Limited to funds managed by Ares Management LP for an equity value of £110 million.

Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised PNE WIND AG (“PNE”) on the sale of the onshore wind farms Calau II C and D to Allianz.

Located in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany, the two wind farms have a combined capacity of 30.8 MW. Both are equipped with five Vestas V112 3.0 MW wind turbines with an extraordinarily high hub height of 140 metres. This enables the turbines to make optimum use of the woodland location, producing enough environmentally-friendly energy to power approximately 26,000 four person households.