Ashurst has advised Aareal Bank on the extension of a financing of more then €271 million for a large European hotel portfolio. The portfolio comprises 18 hotels of the brands 'Holiday Inn', 'Holiday Inn Express' and 'Crowne Plaza' in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain. The borrowers are special purpose vehicles of Canadian pension fund Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Aareal Bank had initially provided the financing for the acquisition of the portfolio. The extension  is deemed to be a milestone in the market since there was a limited market for both the hotel finance and cross border finance after the credit crunch.

The cross-border Ashurst team was led by international finance partner Dr Stephan Kock (Frankfurt). He was supported by finance partners Sarah Watkinson (London), Jose Christian Bertram (Madrid) and Arnaud Wtterwulghe (Brussels). In addition, associate Andreas Mallin as well as paralegals Julia Probst and Anna Zoth (Frankfurt and Munich), the associates Mitch Ingham (London), Hassan Javanshir and Thomas Ehrecke (Paris), Fernando Colomina Nebreda (Madrid) and Johan van den Berge (Brussels) also advised.

Law firm Wolf Theiss (partner Andreas Schmid and associate Martina Rommer) covered Austrian law and NautaDutilh (partner Thijs Lommen, associates Monieke Linck and Mohamoud Asker) covered Dutch law.

Aareal Bank was internally advised by Frederick Schönig.

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