Clifford Chance advised Allianz Real Estate on its successful bid to acquire the Project Jewel loan portfolio from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency ("NAMA") in a joint venture with UK listed property company Hammerson plc. at a purchase price of ca. EUR 1.85 bn.

Project Jewel represents one of the largest loan sales ever in the Irish market. The portfolio includes loans at a par value in excess of EUR 2.5bn which are secured against market-leading retail assets in Ireland, such as Dundrum Town Centre ("DTC") in Dublin. Allianz invests approximately EUR 900 million in the transaction.

Opened in 2005, DTC is Ireland’s pre-eminent shopping and leisure destination. The centre extends to approximately 1.5 million sq ft (126,000 square meters). It has one of Ireland´s highest footfalls with ca. 18 million visitors p.a. Dundrum is anchored by four department and flagship stores (House of Fraser, M&S, Harvey Nichols and Penney's) alongside a Tesco superstore and more than thirty 'first to Ireland' international tenants, including Hollister, Aldo, Starbucks, Jamie's Italian, H&M, Hugo Boss and Bershka. Overall the centre comprises 120 retail shops, 38 restaurants, a 12 screen VIP cinema and a 3,000 space customer car park.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Dr. Christian Keilich and included counsel Henning Aufderhaar and senior associate Holger Pollmann (all Real Estate/joint venture arrangements, Frankfurt), partner Marc Besen (Düsseldorf, Brussels) and senior associate Miriam Kammer (Düsseldorf, both Antitrust) as well as partner Dr. Jan Grabbe and senior associate Dr. Svenja Olgemöller (Tax/Regulatory).