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SJ Berwin Act for Hilton Hotels in Sale and Leaseback

Tuesday 3rd September 2002

David Ryland, SJ Berwin's leading hotels and property finance expert, has acted for Hilton Group plc in connection with the major sale and leaseback of ten Hilton hotels. The consideration was £335 million.

The hotels have been purchased by the newly established Tindall Hotels Limited Partnership funded by private investment and a loan facility of £275 million from Bayerische Landesbank. Investors included Rotch, Farnsworth and HboS.

The ten hotels including the Kensington Hilton, the East Midlands Airport Hilton, the Leeds City Hilton and the York Hilton have been leased back to Hilton on 27 year leases, with the rents linked to the turnover of the hotel.

David led the team at SJ Berwin with Peter Anderson, Deborah Hoe, Stephen Marshall and Heather Corben. Herbert Smith (Christopher de Pury) acted for the purchaser, with Clifford Chance (Simon Brown) acting for the bank.

Notes:

• David Ryland has been ranked in a series of publications as one of the leading lawyers in his area. In the Legal 500 2000, he was described as "a pioneer in the development of new property vehicles" and "property finance guru". In Chambers 2001-2002 he was described as "the best legal mind in the country" and "in a class of his own". He has also been ranked in surveys in Euromoney as one of the world's leading real estate lawyers
• David has been involved in the establishment of property funds for an aggregate value nearing £5 billion. Past transactions include the establishment of the MWB Leisure Funds I and II and IIB, the Barclays Whitgift Partnership, the Regent Retail Parks Partnership, the Regent Residential Partnership, the Two Rivers Partnership, the Quondam Partnership, the Strategic Property Partners Partnership, the Gresham Property Partners Fund L.P., the Schroders Retail Park Unit Trust, the Chiswick Park Unit Trust, the Residential Property Unit Trust, the Hercules Unit Trust, the City of London Office Unit Trust and the West End of London Property Unit Trust. He has also recently acted on the syndication of property among retail investors for an aggregate value in excess of £900 million. Transactions include the funding of the Cazenove's head office, Scottish Enterprise's head office and new office buildings for Linklaters and Gouldens. He has also developed structures to facilitate differential levels of gearing exposure to the same underlying assets.
• David is also ranked as the leading lawyer in hotel related transactions. He has also been closely involved in the funding arrangements relating to a number of hotel acquisitions in the UK and abroad and he acts for a number of major hotel operators and investors.
  
  Recent transactions include:
  
  
• Advising the Hilton Group plc in connection with the sale and leaseback of 11 hotels to the Royal Bank of Scotland for consideration of £312 million.
• Acting for London & Regional in connection with the structuring of a joint venture with Land Securities relating to the 5 Star 29 storey London Hilton in Park Lane for £157m.

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