DLA Piper has advised Aareal Bank AG on an up to €1 billion  pan-European real estate loan to Invesco Real Estate which represents one of 2016's largest European real estate financings.

The facility comprises initial loans totalling €610 million, which will be used to refinance a portfolio of properties located in UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. The financing also provides Invesco with an accordion facility of up to another €390m, which is yet uncommitted, to enable it to expand the portfolio throughout those jurisdictions.

The financing follows a number of other high value multi-jurisdictional real estate finance transactions which DLA Piper has advised Aareal Bank AG on in the last two years, including the  €630 million loan to Northstar Realty's circa €1.1 billion  to finance the acquisition of a  pan-European office portfolio, and the €215 million acquisition of a pan-European hotel acquisition by a Benson Elliot and Walton Street Capital joint venture, both of which completed in 2015.

London Real Estate Finance partner, Toby Barker, who led on the deal for DLA Piper said: "We are delighted to have worked with Aareal Bank AG on this key financing to Invesco. The transaction demonstrated DLA Piper's cross-sector and cross-border capabilities, which enabled us to seamlessly deliver a positive outcome on a multi layered financing, within a challenging timeframe."

Jens Engemann, Transaction Advisory at Aareal Bank AG, said: "Thanks to the excellent cooperation with DLA Piper we were in a position to provide a tailor-made financing solution to our client and to successfully conclude this complex transaction.”

Toby Barker, who was assisted by DLA Piper's international Finance, Tax, Real Estate and Regulatory groups in the Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam and Cologne offices. Toby was assisted in the London Finance team by senior associate Christopher Chan. Frankfurt based Finance partner, Torsten Pokropp, led the German team and partner Lex Oosterling led the Finance team in the Netherlands.

The London Real Estate team was led by partner Richard Crossfield and the German Real Estate team was led by Munich based partner Martin Haller.

The Tax team was led by partner Richard Woolich in London working with partner Martin Heinsius in Frankfurt and partner Paulus Merks in Amsterdam. Regulatory advice was provided by Dr Christian Schneider, partner, and Dr Volker Lemmer, both from the firm's Cologne office.

Invesco was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright with a team led by Duncan Hubbard.