Linklaters has advised Chariot Top Group, a company represented by Griffin Real Estate, on a real estate portfolio acquisition comprising 28 shopping centres located across Poland from A-R-A Retail Centres, owned by a consortium formed by Ares Management L.P., AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets and Apollo Rida, and on the subsequent resale of 12 properties from this portfolio to Echo Polska Properties. This transaction has been widely acknowledged to be one of the largest real estate deals signed in 2017 in the CEE region (closing took place on 4 January 2018). The aggregate value of the transactions amounts to ca. EU1.7bn.
 
January 4 marked the closing of the first stage of the transaction, namely the acquisition of 28 shopping centres by Chariot Top Group and the subsequent resale of the first tranche of the portfolio comprising 4 M1 shopping centres to EPP (with eight other properties to follow at a later stage).
 
The team advising Chariot Top Group was led by both Artur Kulawski (partner, real estate) and Janusz Dzianachowski (partner, real estate), and included among others, Tomasz Trystula (associate, real estate), Zaneta Rogon (associate, projects), Monika Lerka (senior associate, real estate) and Judyta Sawicka (managing associate, real estate). Marcin Schulz (counsel, corporate) led the team advising on the resale part of the transaction and on all corporate law aspects. He was supported by Christopher Quinn (managing associate, corporate) and Jakub Wozniak (associate, corporate). Advice on the financing of the transaction was handled by the London banking team led by led by Steve Smith (partner, banking), supported by Scott Simpson (partner, banking), Katy Lucas (managing associate, banking) and the Warsaw banking team consisting of Joanna Gawlicka (managing associate, banking), Marcin Nowak (associate, banking) and Maciej Pietron (associate, banking). Linklaters' Amsterdam and Luxembourg offices were also involved in relation to relevant jurisdiction-specific issues.