Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised J. H. Gustav Burmeister GmbH & Co. (“J. H. Gustav Burmeister”) as builder on the financing of Süderfeld Park, a large scale residential project in Hamburg-Lokstedt consisting of 380 flats, 21 town houses, four city mansions and a day nursery. The financing partner was Hamburger Sparkasse and the project manager and developer was Metropol Grund GmbH, who advised on the structuring of the financing and the selection of the lender.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Virgin Money plc on a Reg S and Rule 144A multi-currency Residential Mortgage Backed Securitisation, which saw the issuer successfully publicly issue Notes in US$, £ and €.
This was the first securitisation to comply with both the EU and the US risk retention rules.

The Freshfields team was led by structured finance partner Chris Barratt, assisted by senior associate Jesse Fairley. US regulatory advice was provided by New York partner Brian Rance. US securities advice was provided by partner Sarah Murphy.

London - Mayer Brown has advised Crosstree Real Estate Partners on the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to develop a new designer outlet retail scheme at The O2, the landmark building on London’s Greenwich Peninsula. The firm has also advised the AEG/Crosstree joint venture on a £185 million financing by Lloyds Banking Group to partly finance the scheme.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners won the  tender as legal counsel for issuing mortgage-secured bonds under a pilot project entitled “Mortgage Securities Factory” - a new tool launched by the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML) to refinance mortgage loans.

EQUATE Petrochemical Company, announced in a press statement on 23 December 2015 that it has finalized its acquisition of 100% ownership in MEGlobal. This transaction has transformed EQUATE into a global leader in the petrochemical sector. MEGlobal will provide EQUATE with a major growth opportunity through a new world-scale project in the U.S. Gulf Coast utilizing advantaged shale gas feedstock. In addition, the transaction will bring with it an experienced leadership and operations team, as well as a global network of clients.

Schroder Real Estate (Schroders) has acquired the well-known and outstanding architectural landmark property Königstadt-Carree near Berlins Alexanderplatz as part of a share deal for an investor. King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) Real Estate team advised Schroders on this transaction. The purchase price was not disclosed.

In November 2015, the Banking and Finance practice team advised Bank Zachodni WBK and Bank BGZ BNP Paribas on providing financing for residential projects in Cracow and Warsaw.

Advising Bank Zachodni WBK

Lawyers from Dentons’ Banking and Finance practice team advised Bank Zachodni WBK acting as lender in relation to a PLN 84 million financing. The loan will cover a residential development on Cystersow Street in Cracow. The transaction was closed on November 17.

Slaughter and May advised The Black Stork Charity in connection with financing the construction of the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (the DNRC) at the Stanford Hall estate in Nottinghamshire. Construction commenced in August 2015 and the DNRC is expected to open in 2018.

A fund managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management-Real Global Assets has sold the landmark GARDEN TOWER office building in Frankfurt’s central banking district with
approximately 27,513 sqm to a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners and co-investor Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors. Main tenant of the building is Société Générale alongside other financial institutions.

DLA Piper has advised Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen on financing for the purchase of an inner-city site of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. Helaba has funded the purchase of the 16,000-m² site with a loan from the property development company Gross & Partner.