News | Real Estate

Monday 15th May 2006

Corporate and commercial law firm SJ Berwin LLP's real estate department has advised Brixton plc on the sale of Watchmoor Point in Camberley, Surrey for £35.1 million.  The buyer of the 214,000 sq ft estate was Legal & General Assurance Society. The sale reflects an initial yield of 5.44%.

The estate was developed by Brixton in 2000 and comprises 5 industrial units and an office building let to tenants including Dowding & Mills, Premium Aircraft Interiors and ThyssenKrupp Materials.

Associates Joanna Footitt and Louise Cartwright of SJ Berwin LLP advised Brixton with Vinay Vineik, partner, assisted by Mark Pratt advising the acquirer.

• On 1 June 2005 SJ Berwin LLP, an English limited liability partnership, took over the business of the SJ Berwin general partnership.  SJ Berwin LLP or an affiliated undertaking has an office in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich and Paris.
  
• SJ Berwin LLP was named 'UK Firm of the Year' at the 2005 Legal Week Awards on 30 November.  The award recognised SJ Berwin’s five years of international expansion and its involvement in a series of high quality deals.
  
• SJ Berwin's Real Estate Division totals 118 staff of which 22 are partners (3 of which are tax partners), and 50 assistants, 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.
  
• 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.
  
• Revenue from Real Estate represents approximately 23% of the firm's total revenue.