DLA Piper has advised global real estate investor Oxford Properties (Oxford) on a 50:50 joint venture with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH (Union Investment) in respect of Oxford's Watermark Place, with Oxford  acting as asset manager to the joint venture.

Union Investment, a German open-ended fund manager, will take a 50% stake in the building.

DLA Piper also advised the joint venture on the refinancing of the asset, raising a new 10-year £270 million debt facility. 

Watermark Place is an 11 storey,  542,497 sq ft Grade A office building situated on the River Thames in the City of London. The building was Oxford's first investment in the London market in 2007 before it purchased it outright in November 2010 from a UBS fund. 

Watermark Place is currently 100% let to Japanese investment bank Nomura on a long-term lease, and is home to its EMEA headquarters.

Richard Hopkinson-Woolley, DLA Piper Real Estate partner who led the deal, said: "Having acted on several transactions concerning the purchase of the former building on the site for UBS and then the subsequent development, sale and leasing of Watermark Place over the past ten years or so, it was great to work with Oxford again and in particular in relation to this strategic partnership with Union Investment."

The DLA Piper team was led by Real Estate partner Richard Hopkinson-Woolley and Legal Director Will Deeprose, with associate Josh Pendergast. Partner Laurence Rogers and associate Luke Murphy advised on financing, with partners Rob Salter, Mark Chivers and senior associate Louise Barber on corporate aspects. Partner Neville Wright and senior associate Kelly Lovegrove advised on tax, whilst associates Stella Guettinger and Alex Skinner advised on construction and planning respectively.