Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells have advised on the formation of a £320m joint venture to develop two blocks in St James's, London W1: 52-56 Haymarket and 14-22 Lower Regent Street, which form the commercial element of the landmark St James’s Market scheme.

Oxford Properties, the real estate subsidiary of the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System (OMERS), was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills. Hogan Lovells advised The Crown Estate.

Dentons’ real estate group in Europe has advised the Orco Property Group (Orco) on the formation of a joint venture with Unibail-Rodamco to develop a prime shopping center in the Bubny area in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Orco sold a plot of 3.6 hectares to the joint venture in April this year. The parties will now focus on the development of the project with the aim being to start construction by 2016.

Clifford Chance assisted Allianz Real Estate Germany GmbH, Frankfurt am Main/Stuttgart, on the first investment Allianz made in a shopping centre in Poland. Lawyers from Clifford Chance offices in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Warsaw and Amsterdam advised on the structure of the joint venture and the related contracts.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the world’s largest integrated geothermal power producer, Philippines-based Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in relation to its joint venture with leading Canadian global renewable energy company, Alterra Power Corp (Alterra) for the development of four geothermal energy projects in Chile and Peru.

The Carrefour Group recently announced the sale of its 25% stake in Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets for €530 million to its regional partner, Majid Al Futtaim Holding.

Partners since 1995, Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim operate 50 hypermarkets and 44 supermarkets in several countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia through their joint subsidiary, Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets.

International law firm Olswang has advised clients of Delancey, the specialist real estate and investment advisory company, on their investment in iCITY and joint venture with Infinity SDC Limited, the UK's leading data centre operator.

Trowers & Hamlins has advised on a second joint venture between residential developer Mount Anvil and leading national housing provider, Affinity Sutton, which has secured funding from Barclays for a £100 million luxury residential scheme in west London.

The Farm Lane development, expected to complete in spring 2015, will comprise 107 spacious new homes, of which 18 will be for “Discounted Market Sale”.  The development will be an exclusive gated community and will feature a 24-hour concierge, spa, landscaped gardens and 100 parking spaces.

Slaughter and May advised Barratt Developments PLC ('Barratt'), on its entry into a 50/50 joint venture, Rose Shared Equity LLP ('Rose'), with a fund managed by Anchorage Capital Group LLC ('Anchorage').
 
Under the terms of the joint venture, which were announced on 15 May 2013, the Barratt group’s shared equity loans that originated in the period from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011 have been transferred to Rose. Anchorage acquired a 50% interest in Rose for approximately £34 million.

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The Linklaters Competition group (Anne Wachsmann, partner, and Bastien Thomas) advised Tereos on its two most recent international development projects in China (creation of a second joint venture with Wilmar International) and in Romania (acquisition of Ludus sugar plant).

The relationship between the Linklaters Paris Corporate group (Thierry Riguet, partner) and Tereos, a major European player in the sugar, starch and liqueur industries, began in 2002 with the acquisition of Béghin-Say by Union SDA which led to the creation of Tereos.

Slaughter and May is advising Cable & Wireless Communications Plc ('CWC') in connection with its strategic alliance with Columbus Networks Ltd ('Columbus') to develop their international wholesale capacity businesses.