We advised Niam in a finance transaction relating to a sale of more than thirty real estate properties located in Finland. The execution of the finance transaction was a prerequisite for a transaction where Niam sold office and retail properties in Finland with a total leasable area of over 154,500 m2. The secured credit facility was provided by Aareal Bank AG.

Our team, which was praised for its work on the project, was led by Partner Tero Tuomisto and also included Associates Kalle Maijala (Banking & Finance) and Paula Tuononen (Corporate Advisory & Tax).

Slaughter and May advised Appold Broadgate Owner S.a r.l. on its acquisition of Bavaria House, London EC2, from Bayerische Landesbank. The transaction involved the grant of a one-year leaseback of the building to the vendor. Bavaria House, which measures 43,000 sq ft and occupies an island site on the edge of the Broadgate Estate, is considered to have potential for redevelopment into a mixed use tower scheme.

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Law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Real Estate team in London has advised British Land on the completion of the sale of 52 Poland Street in Soho to Amazon Property for £26 million.  The deal saw Amazon Property in a joint venture acquire the freehold of the building.
 
52 Poland Street is a 20,500 sq ft multi-let building over basement, ground and seven upper office floors. The ground and basement floors are occupied by Yo! Sushi and Lucky Voice karaoke bar.
 

Wikborg Rein has assisted Madison International Realty in the purchase of 59.5 % of the shares in Martin Linges vei 33 AS (ML 33). ML 33 owns indirectly the Statoil office on Fornebu that is let out to Statoil ASA on a 15 years lease.

Madison purchased 35 % of the shares in ML 33 in 2012-2013, and the new acquisition brings Madison's ownership above 90 % of the shares.

Irwin Mitchell has advised global real estate advisory firm JLL on its merger with W. A. Ellis. W. A. Ellis is an established leader in the prime London market operating since 1868 with a particular focus in Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia re-sale, lettings, property management and valuation.
 
Following the announcement, W. A. Ellis will become part of the JLL group that will see offices and employees integrating with immediate effect but will continue to operate under the established W. A. Ellis brand for a period of time.
 

Wikborg Rein has assisted Madison in the purchase of 50 % of the shares in High Street Shopping AS (HSS) from Schage Eiendom AS. HSS is the owner of Norway's oldest department store, Steen & Strom, centrally located in Oslo city. The property value of the properties in HSS is in excess of NOK 1.5 billion.

HSS was founded in 2011, and acquired Steen & Strom Magasin (kongens gate 23, 27 and 29) as well as the property Karl Johans gate 16.

Slaughter and May advised CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (CEMEX), the global building materials company, on a new US$1.35 billion credit agreement and the launch of CEMEX’s associated consent process under their existing syndicated facilities agreement.

The transaction comprised:

With legal advice from the law firm Noerr, real estate fund manager ActivumSG has taken over formart, the second largest residential real estate developer in Germany, from HOCHTIEF AG. An inter-disciplinary team from Noerr’s Real Estate Investment Group led by Prof. Dr. Alexander Goepfert and Felix Blobel advised ActivumSG comprehensively on all real estate, corporate and tax aspects of the transaction.

Real estate funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have acquired the MesseTurm building in Frankfurt am Main. The completion of the sale is subject to regulatory approval.

DLA Piper has advised Catella Real Estate AG (Catella) on the acquisition of a property in Munich from Allgemeine SÜDBODEN Grundbesitz AG. DLA Piper has recently also advised Catella on the acquisition of a speciality shopping centre in Nuremberg/Boxdorf as well as a property in the Munich district of Pasing.