Gourmet Society was founded in Nottingham in 2003 by Simon Leonard, originally as a part time business selling memberships door-to-door for 18 restaurants. It was later incorporated as Simard Limited in 2008 when it had grown to 500 restaurants across the Midlands and North England.

Since 2008 the business has grown exponentially with over 6,700 restaurant partners and 39 employees. Members of the Gourmet Society benefit from either 50% off food, two-for-one meals or 25% off the total bill at partner restaurants.

DWF has advised Norwepp on the sale of Liverpool Innovation Park and Exchange Station, a recently-refurbished office in the city centre, to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The HCA has announced its investment in these two major commercial developments in Liverpool following an agreement between the HCA and Aviva Investors to close the North West property joint venture Norwepp.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Virgin Australia on the sale and lease back of the airline’s Brisbane headquarters to Charter Hall.

As part of the leaseback arrangements, Virgin Australia will continue to occupy the property in accordance with the lease terms.

The deal, that closed on 9 May 2014, was led by Herbert Smith Freehills partner Luke Simpson with assistance from senior associate Adrian Rich.

Allen & Overy announced today that it is advising Eni S.p.A. (Eni) on the sale of Eni’s stake in the Czech Republic’s sole refinery, Ceska rafinerska, to Hungarian oil and gas group MOL, as well as on the sale of Eni’s wholly owned downstream oil affiliates (eni Ceska Republika, eni Slovensko and eni Romania) operating over 200 Agip branded petrol stations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.

DLA Piper advised H.M.Z. Privatstiftung, a private foundation established by the former AT & S owner Helmut Zoidl, on the sale of several Styrian properties and shares to the Austrian billionaire and Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz.

Among the sold properties were Hotel Schloss Gabelhofen, the 2,500 hectare forest-estate Authal in the district of Murtal and the Seehotel together with a villa on lake Grundlsee. After extensive negotiations between H.M.Z. and Mateschitz, the contracts were signed on 23 April.

Linklaters advised Funke Media Group on the sale of some select magazine titles to Klambt Media Group. The portfolio includes, amongst others, Funke Media Group’s own TV guides: die zwei, Super TV, TV 4 Wochen, TV 4x7 and TVpiccolino. The latter also comprises tvGENIE and myTV. In addition, Funke also disposed of the TV guides Bildwoche, Funk Uhr and TV NEU, which it had previously acquired from Axel Springer.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Leighton Properties and Devine Limited on the sale of their jointly-owned KSD1 and Central Retail Buildings in Brisbane to 360 Capital Office Fund for A$62m.

The buildings offer a combined 9,300sqm net lettable area within the Hamilton Harbour development- in Brisbane’s inner north. Hamilton Harbour is a joint venture, 50%-owned by Leighton Properties and 50% owned by Devine Limited. The buildings’ tenants include Woolworths, Flight Centre, The Coffee Club and the corporate headquarters of both Domino's Pizza and Devine.

Hogan Lovells has advised Ivanhoé Cambridge on the disposal of a European portfolio of 18 hotels. Ivanhoé Cambridge is a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, and has total assets of CDN$40 billion across Canada, the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia.  Its portfolio consists mainly of shopping centres, office and multiresidential properties and its operations include real estate investment, development, asset management, leasing and operations.

Osborne Clarke’s French office has advised KP Investments on the disposal of the Domus shopping centre on the east side of Paris. The purchaser was an investment fund, Orion European Real Estate Fund IV.

Domus is a shopping centre exclusively dedicated to home furnishing, decoration and organisation. The centre feature stores such as Alinéa, Boulanger, Truffaut, Roche Bobois, Natuzzi and BoConcept, with fast-growing creative decoration store Zodio set to open a shop before the end of April. Domus is managed by Accessite.

Paul Hastings represented Forterra Trust, a Singapore-listed real estate fund, in its disposition of the property in Beijing known as Beijing Logistics Park, to Singapore-listed real estate fund Global Logistic Properties Limited.

Beijing Logistics Park is a logistics warehouse located in Beijing’s Shunyi District, adjacent to Beijing International Airport. It was completed in April 2012 and had an occupancy rate of 100% as at December 31, 2013.

The Paul Hastings team was led by partner Wayne Ma with support from associates Elyn He and Kay Cai.