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SJ Berwin Advises on Wichford plc's Admission to AIM

Friday 13th August 2004

SJ Berwin represented Wichford Plc ("Wichford") in respect of its recent admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and placing to raise £30m. Wichford is the 900th company to be admitted to AIM.

Wichford is an Isle of Man registered property investment company with a portfolio focused on UK investment property outside Central London occupied exclusively by UK Central Government bodies. On admission, Wichford was capitalised at £56.2m. Wichford sought an AIM listing in order to assist the raising of both equity and debt finance for the future expansion of its portfolio of properties and to increase its profile and standing with third parties.

The SJ Berwin team was led by corporate partner Michael Goldberg, assisted by corporate assistants Toby Dean and David Nead and by banking assistant Simon Fraser. The property aspects of the deal were advised on by Real Estate Partners Nick Minkoff and John Eldridge. Simcocks advised on Isle of Man related legal issues.
The nominated adviser and broker was Evolution Beeson Gregory Limited, represented by Maclay Murray & Spens.

Michael Goldberg, commenting on the transaction, said "We were delighted to act for Wichford on its placing and admission to AIM. This represents the latest in a series of property related companies coming to AIM this summer that SJ Berwin has advised, including Real Estate Investors plc and The Hotel Corporation plc."

Nick Minkoff added "Wichford has indicated that it plans to buy up to an additional £150m of government-let properties within the next 12-15 months to increase its portfolio size to £270m. This provides a great opportunity for our Real Estate team and we look forward to seeing Wichford’s expansion."


Notes:
  • SJ Berwin is a full-service international legal practice with more than 470 lawyers across its offices in London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Madrid and Paris.
  • SJ Berwin has just won the Chambers Global Award for "Western Europe: Private Equity - Law firm of the Year", as well as the Acquisitions Monthly award for "Mid-market law firm of the year". It also recently won the European Venture Capital Journal Award for "Private Equity Law Firm of the Year: Firm and fund work" (which it has been awarded for the third year running) and "Best Law Firm (fund documentation)" at the PrivateEquityOnline Awards (which it has also won for the third year running).
  • SJ Berwin won the European Venture Capital Journal Award for Private Equity Law Firm of the Year 2000, Law Firm of the Year and Property Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2000, and Competition Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2000.
  •  SJ Berwin's Real Estate Division totals just under 100 staff of which 17 are partners and 45 assistants, encompassing the disciplines of Commercial Real Estate, Construction, Planning & Environment, Property Litigation and Real Estate Funds. There is an increasing emphasis on cross divisional activity with related areas of Banking, Corporate and Tax. 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 has recently been awarded "Real Estate Team of the Year" in the Lawyer Magazine Awards 2004, following its advice on the RBS/Canary Wharf transaction.
 
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