News & Events | News

Thursday 21st December 2006

SJ Berwin LLP announces the arrival of Mario Botte who joins the SJ Berwin Milan team as a Real Estate Partner on 1 February 2007.  Mario is an experienced real estate practitioner and will cover all aspects of Milan’s expansion into the real estate sector.

Mario joins from a real estate legal consultancy position at a Milan law firm: Studio Legale Pedersoli e Associati, where he was responsible for a wide range of real estate matters including acquisitions and sales, financings, corporate structures and funds.  Two major transactions he was involved in 2006 include advising Fondo Pensioni per il Personale della Banca Commerciale Italiana, the pension fund of the largest bank in Italy, on the sale of its commercial and residential real estate assets and also advising a consortium of investors on the development of a five star luxury resort in Sicily.

Prior to that, Mario Botte qualified from University in Milan, passing his bar exam at the Court of Genoa in the year 1999/2000.  He worked at subsidiary companies of the Goldman Sachs Group (Milan) from 2001-2005, where he gained considerable experience in the real estate sector, working on all corporate real estate matters. 

Mario Botte comments, “I was attracted to SJ Berwin for their focussed and market leading reputation in the European real estate sector.  Their Milan office provides a great opportunity to work with a first class pan-European team which seeks to provide an unrivalled service to their clients.”

Alberto Morano, managing partner for Italy says "Having opened the Italian offices only this year, I am delighted by the expansion we have made.  Mario brings the number of lawyers in Italy to 23 and his expertise in real estate expands our service offering enormously."

Head of SJ Berwin's Real Estate team, UK partner Bryan Pickup comments, “ Mario’s arrival reflects the growth in our pan -European operations. We have been looking to spread our cross border real estate team since our Italian offices opened in early 2006 and we are delighted to have attracted a partner of Mario's calibre to the firm.'

For further information, please contact:

Bryan Pickup, +44 (0)20 7111 2468 bryan.pickup@sjberwin.com; Alberto Morano + 39 02 3657 701 alberto.morano@sjberwin.com

Karen Roberts + 44 (0)20 7111 2578 karen.roberts@sjberwin.com 

• Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a leading City corporate and commercial law firm with more than 500 lawyers across its offices in London, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.
  
  
• Further information about the firm may be found at www.sjberwin.com and about the partners at www.sjberwin.com/people
  
  
• The SJ Berwin European Real Estate Team comprises 22 partners and 63 lawyers, spread across London, Brussels, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris, Turin encompassing the disciplines of Commercial Real Estate, Construction, Planning & Environment, Property Litigation and Real Estate Funds.  There is an increasing emphasis on cross firm activity with related areas of Banking and Corporate and with the international offices.  In the UK division acts for blue chip clients including British Land, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Hilton Group, Brixton plc, AXA, The Crown Estate, Marks & Spencer and Gazeley.
  
  
• The Real Estate Team is Legal Business Real Estate Team of the Year 2005.  It was also named "Real Estate Team of the Year" in the Lawyer Magazine Awards 2004, following its advice on the RBS/Canary Wharf transaction the highest-value property investment transaction in the UK in 2004.
  
  
• SJ Berwin was named UK Firm of the Year at The 2005 Legal Week Awards. The award recognized SJ Berwin’s five years of international expansion and involvement in a series of high quality deals.