Trowers & Hamlins has acted for established client Berjaya Land Berhad on the successful acquisition of The Castleton Hotel, Paddington, London by its subsidiaries Berjaya Vacation Club (UK) Limited and BHR (Cayman) Limited for circa £10 million.

The acquisition involved the purchase of the hotel and assets from the property-owning seller, together with the business and trade from the business-owning seller. The Castleton is now the second hotel in Berjaya's UK hotel portfolio, which already included the Eden Park Hotel in Bayswater.

Trowers & Hamlins is pleased to have advised Lincolnshire-based Boston Mayflower on what is believed to be the first simultaneous bond issue and US private placement by a registered provider.

Clifford Chance has advised GLL GmbH & Co. Messeturm Holding KG, Munich, on the sale of the Messeturm building in Frankfurt by way of a share deal. The office tower was sold to US financial investor Blackstone. The parties agreed to maintain silence about the purchase price.

Borenius advised Citycon in the acquisition of 40% of the Iso Omena shopping centre (Espoo, Finland, GLA 63,300 m2) from the Singaporean GIC, through which Citycon increased its ownership to 100%.

Real Estate sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised property development and construction group Skanska UK on an £8 million residential development land sale.

The Burges Salmon team, led by Real Estate partner Ross Polkinghorne, advised Skanska on all real estate aspects of the transaction to Kersfield Developments Limited. The site is in the city of Bath and has been sold with planning permission for 39 homes.

The Ulla Åberg estate has signed an agreement to divest Hugo Åbergs Fastighetsförvaltning to Akelius Fastigheter. The transaction includes eight real properties in Malmö comprising more than 2,000 residential apartments and about 150 commercial units, including the 27-storey Kronprinsen, one of Malmö’s most well-known landmarks. The purchase price has not been disclosed, however, property experts report that this is the single largest real property transaction ever in Malmö.

Castellum’s wholly owned subsidiary Fastighets AB Briggen has divested the Hansa shopping mall in central Malmö to Areim. Hansan consists of two properties comprising 40,500 square metres of retail, office, garage, residential and education facilities. The sales price amounted to SEK 609 million after reduction for assessed deferred tax and transaction costs of SEK 27 million.

GeoSea, a subsidiary of DEME Group specialising in complex offshore marine construction projects, is acquiring all of HOCHTIEF's offshore assets. The company, which has been operating successfully in the fields of dredging, offshore and marine construction for decades, is acquiring all construction vessels and pontons from HOCHTIEF, including the heavy-lift jack-up vessel Innovation, one of the largest construction vessels in the offshore industry.  Moreover, GeoSea offers to continue to employ HOCHTIEF staff.

Mayer Brown has advised China Overseas Holdings Limited on its forward purchase of Carmelite Riverside, London for £143 million. China Overseas Holdings is one of the largest real estate developers focused in Mainland China.

Carmelite Riverside, a 135,000 sq ft office development at Victoria Embankment, is China Overseas Holdings third high quality acquisition outside of China. Mayer Brown also assisted China Overseas Holdings on its two previous purchases of Centrium, 61 Aldwych for £170 million and 1 Finsbury Circus, London for £152 million in 2012-2013.

Mayer Brown has advised Gaw Capital Partners and a consortium of Asian investors on the acquisition of Exchange Tower in London’s Docklands for £191 million.
 
Gaw Capital, a real estate private equity fund management company based in Hong Kong, acquired the property from BlackRock Europe Property Fund III.