Eversheds is advising Rowsley Ltd, a publicly-listed real estate company based in Singapore (“Rowsley”), on its investment in a £200 million (S$440 million) landmark property project in central Manchester with former Manchester United football stars Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs.
Rowsley said today it will pay approximately £40 million (S$88 million) to acquire a 75% stake in St Michael Investments Pte. Ltd, a company set up to develop the hotel, office, residential and retail project in the heart of Manchester city centre, two hours’ train ride from London.
Located on a 1.43-acre site bounded by Bootle Street, Jackson’s Row and Southmill Street, St Michael’s has been designed as a world-class mixed-use development linking key strategic sites through Deansgate, the city’s main thoroughfare, to the Manchester Town Hall. It will comprise a five-star hotel, luxury apartments, high quality office space, restaurants and bars, and two brand new public squares. The gross development value is estimated at £200 million.
Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) will own 21% of St Michael Investments while Mr Neville and Mr Giggs, two per cent each respectively.
Rowsley has also announced that it will pay £29.1 million (S$64.1 million) for a 75% shareholding in each of the three companies holding the assets of Hotel Football, a 133-room boutique hotel located across the Old Trafford stadium, Café Football, a 120-seat restaurant in east London, and GG Collections, a hotel management company that manages Hotel Football and Café Football.
The stakes will come from Mr Peter Lim, a controlling shareholder of Rowsley, and former United stars, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, and their “Class of 92” cohorts, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Philip Neville.
Eversheds is advising on the English law due diligence aspects of the acquisitions.
The Eversheds team is being led by corporate partner Alistair Cree and real estate partner Michael Buchanan, with support from Richard Simpson (senior associate, corporate), Helen Yeung (associate, corporate), Roy Barry (principal associate, real estate) and Michelle Upton (associate, real estate).
Alistair commented:
“This is a landmark transaction for central Manchester and we are delighted to be advising Rowsley Ltd on such an exciting and prestigious project. We look forward to working with Rowsley further in the future.”
