Linklaters

It draws on further expertise in environment, planning and construction where necessary. The team advises financiers, borrowers, real estate investment trusts and funds on a wide range of property investment and development financings. Complex structured and securitised cross-border transactions and their restructurings are notable areas of the team’s expertise. Linklaters’ lawyers also offer coordinated, multi-jurisdictional advice on taking security over real estate.

Recent real estate finance transaction experience includes:

• Battersea Power Station - advised Lloyds Banking Group on the restructuring of a £225 million facility agreement and a £37.55m million facility agreement originally provided in connection with the acquisition of Battersea Power Station
• City of London - advised UBS on the £1.05 billion development and pre-let of a new headquarters at Broadgate in the City of London which will be the largest office building with single occupation in the City
• 10 Gresham Street - advised German open-ended fund, Union Investment on the £183 million sale of the office building at 10 Gresham Street, London EC2, to a joint venture between UK property company Hammerson and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• European Property Fund - advised Lloyds Banking Group on the ongoing restructuring of senior and second senior facilities
• Liberty International - advised Liberty International on a number of limited recourse financings for regional shopping centres with a total value of over £3 billion and more recently advised on the £525 million refinancing of the securitised debt relating to its Lakeside shopping centre
• Somerfield Group - advised the arranging banks on the £2.35 billion financing including £1.5 billion of property financing of the acquisition of the Somerfield Group by the Co-operative Group
• McCarthy & Stone - advised the banks on the restructuring of McCarthy & Stone, the UK retirement homes builder
• Invista European Real Estate Trust - advised on a €360 million pan-European real estate refinancing for a portfolio of properties in nine jurisdictions (including Germany) for Invista European Real Estate Trust
• Development Securities - advised Development Securities on the acquisition of a distressed real estate facility –”loan to own” transaction, one of the first of its kind
• JP Morgan - advised JP Morgan on the restructuring of a pan-European loan portfolio (Denmark, France and Germany)
• Lehman UK Real Estate - advised PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator of Lehman UK Real Estate, the indirect major shareholder of Dame Luxembourg and Heart of La Défense, under safeguard proceedings
• Angelo Gordon and Westcore Properties - acted for Angelo Gordon on the acquisition of a distressed debt portfolio by Angelo Gordon and Westcore Properties secured on London real estate