News | By practice area

Friday 20th December 2002

Leading property finance and hotels specialist at SJ Berwin David Ryland has acted for Babcock & Brown in a joint venture with a group of private Irish investors, in connection with the establishment of property funds which then acquired a porttfolio, from the Kenmore Property Group for £45m.

The fund acquired 17 properties across the UK of which around 40% is offices, with industrial and retail accounting for 35% and 25% respectively. The joint venture plans to increase the Ashbourne fund up to between £200m and £300m over the next two years. The structuring of the funds was complicated involving establishing 2 Delaware partners used as conduits for acquiring the underlying real estate.

David Ryland was assisted by corporate finance assistant Paddy James, senior property assistant Stephen Marshall and Tax Partner Heather Corben.
Other parties were Travers Smith & Braithwaite (Paul Lyons) who acted for the Bank of Scotland.

• David 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 ø 2002 he was described as "the best legal mind in the country" and "in a class of his own". In Legal 500 2002 he was described as "magnificent property finance partner" and "incredibly cleverÉ pioneer of the "now terribly trendy" offshore unit trusts ø and other innovative and complex vehicles, several of which have been generally adopted in the marketplace". Chambers 2002 said "unquestionably, absurdly great mind as well as hardworking and demanding". He has also been ranked in surveys in Euromoney as one of the world's leading real estate lawyers.
• David has extensive experience of a wide range of property finance mechanisms, including development agreements, joint ventures, forward sale, overage sale, side by side leases, trusts for sale, secured lending and equity kicker agreements. He is also widely recognised as a specialist in investment mechanisms including limited partnerships, and unauthorised unit trusts. He has also worked on numerous tax-related property transactions including finance and operating leases, enterprise zone schemes, and transactions to securitise cash flow from properties and maximise tax benefits from property related cash flows.
• David has been personally involved in the establishment of property funds for an aggregate value nearing £6 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 Unit Trust.
• David has also recently acted on the syndication of property among retail investors for an aggregate value in excess of £2 billion. Transactions include the funding of the Cazenove's headoffice, Scottish Enterprise's headoffice 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 also has extensive experience in a wide range of hotel related transactions, including sales purchases, and management contracts. He has also been closely involved in the funding arrangements relating to a number of hotel acquisitions in the UK and abroad. He acts for a number of major hotel operators and investors.