Linklaters

The firm’s global real estate lawyers are experts in multi-jurisdictional investment programmes, including buying and selling investment properties, establishing investment vehicles, such as real estate funds, joint ventures, partnerships and limited partnerships and cross-border investment advice and structuring. Advice on the associated finance and tax aspects of real estate investment is a vital element of the team’s expertise.

Recent real estate transactions include advising:

• Union Investment on its €316 million acquisition of a 91% stake in the Alexa shopping centre in Berlin
• BBVA on its £110m+ acquisition of the half-completed five-star hotel redevelopment of Marconi House on the Strand in London
• HSBC on the sale of its global HQ office tower at Canary Wharf in London
• AREA Property Partners (formerly Apollo Real Estate) on several deals including its (and Europa Capital's) JV with Deutsche Bank-owned RREEF Alternative Investments to purchase and leaseback 947 assets (predominantly bank branches with aggregate value of EUR1.15 billion) from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Spain's second largest bank
• St Martin’s Property Corporation (Kuwait Investment Authority’s real estate subsidiary) on its Asian debut – the ¥13 billion (c. €110 million) acquisition of a 27-storey residential tower in Tokyo
• a Middle Eastern investor on the €400 million (approx) acquisition of a Swedish SPV owning the landmark Sturegallerian, a major shopping complex in the centre of Stockholm
• Nomura Real Estate UK Limited on the establishment of an offshore joint venture with Kajima Properties (Europe) Ltd – Nomura’s first European real estate acquisition
• Swiss Re on the £600 million sale of its iconic tower building at 30 St Mary Axe, London EC3, popularly known as the ‘Gherkin’ – the UK’s largest ever single building investment transaction
• SEB Immobilien on the acquisition of Shanghai’s landmark Platinum Building – the first investment in China by any German open-ended real estate investment fund
• the purchaser on the acquisition from Unibail-Rodamco of a trophy building on the rue du Faubourg St Honoré in Paris