News | Corporate Finance

Tuesday 24th July 2007

SJ Berwin has advised established client The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (“RBS”) on the £452 million sale of 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf to Evans Randall. 

This is the second sale for RBS in one month. SJ Berwin having advised RBS on the sale of 25 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, for £1 billion in June 2007.  The sale of 25 Canada Square was reported as the second largest ever single property acquisition in the UK which, along with the purchase of The Meadowhall Shopping Centre by British Land for £1.017 billion, means that SJ Berwin has advised on two of the three largest ever single property acquisitions in the UK to date.

Corporate Partner Michael Goldberg commented: “We are again delighted to be acting for RBS. It has been another excellent year for our highly regarded corporate real estate team. The strength and depth of the practice is clearly reflected in the sorts of clients and instructions that we are regularly advising on - we have, for example, over the last couple of months also advised Delancey on the closing of its new €1.5 billion UK and European Real Estate Fund; Vector Hospitality on its proposed £2.64 billion flotation as a REIT and Westfield on the establishment of its £540 million Westfield UK Shopping Centre Fund."

For further information, please contact:

Michael Goldberg on 020 7111 2404 or by emailing michael.goldberg@sjberwin.com

Aurelia Spivey, Business Development Manager on 020 7111 2060 or by emailing aurelia.spivey@sjberwin.com

To view other press releases click here.

• RBS (5 Canada Square): Led by corporate partner Michael Goldberg alongside real estate partner Stephen Willson and corporate partner Nicholas Plant. Specialist tax advice was provided by partner Heather Corben. Allen & Overy also advised RBS in relation to real estate issues.
  
  
• RBS (25 Canada Square): Led by corporate partner Nicholas Plant alongside real estate partner Stephen Willson and corporate partner Michael Goldberg. Specialist tax advice was provided by partner Heather Corben.
  
  
• Delancey (UK And European Real Estate Fund): Led by corporate partner Michael Goldberg assisted by Anthony Shatz.
  
  
• Vector Hospitality plc: Led by corporate real estate partner David Ryland, supported by corporate partners Delphine Currie and Peter Anderson; real estate partners Rob Thompson, Ed Page, Jeff Smith, Stephen Willson and Pat Ryan; tax partner Adrian Brettell; finance partners Nathan Briner and Gillian Smith and capital markets partner Brian Carne.
  
  
• Westfield Core UK Shopping Centre Fund: Led by corporate partner Michael Goldberg supported by corporate partner Laura O’Neill, tax partner Heather Corben and finance partner and Nathan Briner.
  
  
• SJ Berwin's highly regarded capital markets team acts for issuers, corporate financiers and quoted companies. We provide the full range of advice including IPOs on the official list and AIM, dual and secondary listings, secondary offerings including rights issues, placings and open offers, restructurings and reorganisations.
  
  
• We have a leading AIM practice. Our involvement in the sector is very strong - having advised on our first AIM IPO on the launch of the market in 1995 - we continue to advise many companies who have chosen AIM as their new home. Although we act on a wide range of AIM IPOs, our speciality is high value and international admissions, where our overseas network and full range of specialist advisers (tax, finance and regulatory as well as corporate) are able to add value.
  
  
• With more than 200 corporate finance lawyers, the depth and breadth of expertise of our pan-European Corporate Finance Department is considerable. We offer the complete range of corporate finance services, which extends to all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A and buy-outs, private equity, equity capital markets, financial services and tax.
  
  - The corporate team has won a number of recent awards including:
  - "Corporate Team of the Year - Mid Markets" at the 2007 Lawyer awards
  - "Fund Formation Team of the Year" 2006 at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Private Equity Advisory Services
  - "European Law Firm of the Year" 2004 - 2006 at the EVCA/Real Deals European Private Equity Awards
  - European Law Firm of the Year" (fund formation) 2001 - 2007 by subscribers to PrivateEquityOnline and Private Equity International
  -"Private Equity Law Firm of the Year" 2004 - 2007 at the European Venture Capital journal awards 2004
  -"LBO Firm of the Year" 2004 at the Finance and Law Awards in Paris
  
  
• SJ Berwin's Real Estate Division totals 118 staff  in London of which 23 are partners (3 of which are tax partners) , and over 50 associates, encompassing the disciplines of Commercial Real Estate, Construction, Planning & Environment, Property Litigation, Real Estate Funds and Tax.  There is an increasing emphasis on cross firm activity with related areas of Banking and Corporate.  The 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.  In addition there are  3 dedicated European real estate partners
  
  
• The Real Estate Team was 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.
  
  
• Revenue from Real Estate represents approximately 21% of the firm's total revenue in London.