International law firm Clifford Chance acted as advisor to AEW Europe on the acquisition and the financing, on behalf of a newly established partnership between a subsidiary of China Investment Corporation (CIC) and an affiliate of AEW Europe, from the CBRE Retail Property Fund France Belgium CV ("RPFFB"), of the "Celsius" portfolio which comprises 10 shopping centres across France and Belgium.

Hill Dickinson’s corporate team has acted on behalf of RBS in their funding of the buy-out of Bredbury Hall, a hotel and entertainment venue in Stockport.

The iconic 147 bedroom complex, which includes a restaurant, nightclub and conference centre, has been sold after 15 months in administration to Bangladeshi businessman, Golam Sarwar.

Sarwar is now planning a £1m refurbishment and has appointed hotel management specialists, Onecall Hospitality, on a three year rolling contract to operate the complex.  

Ashurst advised HSH Nordbank AG ("HSH") on the financing of the acquisition of a portfolio comprising seven retail properties with a total selling space of 82,000 square meters by property companies majority-owned by Partners Group, Zug, Switzerland.

The properties are inter alia located in Potsdam and in Bergen on the island Rügen. The majority of the space is let to renowned anchor tenants including hypermarket chains Real and Kaufland as well as DIY chain toom. HSH provided a partial financing of €62 million.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Goldman Sachs on the funding of a new Dutch residential mortgage business established by a Dutch credit advisory firm, Dynamic Credit Partners (DCP). The transaction is partnered by Netherlands-based mortgage servicer, Quion Groep, which has obtained approval from the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets, to offer mortgage loans to customers based in the Netherlands.

CMS has successfully advised PZU on the financing of one of the biggest transactions on the Polish real estate market – Echo BV’s acquisition of Echo Investment.

The Prado I RMBS fund will issue securities valued at €342 million backed by UCI mortgage loans

Unión de Creditos Inmobiliarios (UCI), is the first Spanish credit institution to participate in a mortgage-backed securitization placed on the market after eight years of deadlock.

Banco Santander and BNP Paribas, UCI’s joint shareholders, will place the senior bonds issued by the Prados I RMBS fund on the market, with a final maturity date of 2055. The fund’s portfolio is valued at €450 million.

Slaughter and May advised McKay Security plc (McKay) on its recent refinancing and simultaneous execution of three secured facilities.

The refinancing increased the scale of McKay's loan portfolio from £155 million to £175 million with Aviva Commercial Finance Limited introduced as a new lender and existing lending relationships maintained with three of McKay's existing lending banks. The refinancing provides an extended maturity profile and secures McKay's borrowings ahead of loan expiries due to commence in 2016.

Baker & McKenzie and Archers intervened respectively for AEW Europe and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG in setting up the mortgage refinancing of the Tour W in the amount of 131 million euro. The Tour W is operated by AEW Europe and the bank refinancing has been arranged and provided by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG.

Located at La Défense, the Tour W contains 32 floors and a usable surface area of 38 000 m². It is owned by a group of institutional investors.

CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati has advised the IMMOFINANZ Group in connection with financing of EUR 300 million for a prime Austrian real estate portfolio. The deal is one of the biggest real estate financing transactions in Austria in recent years.

Clifford Chance has advised UK listed miner Sierra Rutile on a debt investment of USD 50 million to expand its operations. This is set to be one of the largest investments in Sierra Leone since Ebola struck western Africa last year.