News | Real Estate

Wednesday 4th October 2006

SJ Berwin LLP has advised the vendor, Co-Operative Insurance Society Limited (CIS), represented by AXA Real Estate Investment Managers UK, and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP (K&LNG) advised the purchaser, Heron International, on the sale of 50% of the units in Abford House Unit Trust.  The Trust owns Abford House, 333 Vauxhall Bridge Road, SW1, which is currently valued at £26 million.  It is the intention of the Unit Trust to redevelop the property.

Abford House will be a nine-storey development facing onto Victoria Street and topped off by a dramatic curving roof at the north end.  The building, which will be 13,000 sq m in size, adjoins the Apollo Theatre and will comprise shops at the street and lower ground floor levels and offices above. 

The SJ Berwin team advising CIS and AXA-REIM was led by real estate partner Bryan Pickup assisted by Roy Davies, with partner Laura O'Neill advising on corporate issues, assisted by Paige Howard Smith, and partner Heather Corben on tax.  Jason Juden of SJ Berwin has also been acting on the vacant possession programme.

K&LNG's London practice group Real Estate leader, Piers Coleman led the team for Heron and was assisted by partners Howard Kleiman, Redmond Byrne, Nick Wargent, Richard Woolich and assistant Peter Young.

Bryan Pickup said "This transaction is an important step in improving CIS's property investment portfolio - the first new development since AXA-REIM took over the management of the portfolio a year ago - and we look forward to a successful high profile new building."

Piers Coleman commented: "We were delighted to act for long-standing client Heron on this exciting acquisition in a thriving commercial centre in London."

For further information please contact:

Bryan Pickup on +44 (0)20 71112468, email bryan.pickup@sjberwin.com or Karen Roberts on +44 (0)20 7111 2578, email karen.roberts@sjberwin.com or Piers Coleman on +44 (0)20 7360 8206, email pcoleman@klng.com or Maurice Court on +44 (0)20 7360 8321, email mcourt@klng.com

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (K&LNG) has approximately 1,000 lawyers and represents entrepreneurs, growth and middle market companies and leading FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations nationally and internationally.

K&LNG is a combination of two limited liability partnerships, each named Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, one qualified in Delaware, U.S.A. and practicing from offices in Boston, Dallas, Harrisburg,  Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington and one incorporated in England practicing from the London office.

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.  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 21 are partners in London and 50 associates, encompassing the disciplines of Commercial Real Estate, Construction, Planning & Environment, Property Litigation and Real Estate Funds.  In addition, there are 3 dedicated real estate tax partners in London and 1 dedicated real estate partner in Paris.  There is an increasing emphasis on cross firm activity with related areas of Banking and Corporate and with the international offices.  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 21% of the firm's total revenue in London.