News & Events | News

Wednesday 11th July 2007

SJ Berwin advised established client The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (“RBS”) on the £1 billion sale of Citigroup's Canary Wharf European headquarters, 25 Canada Square, to a joint venture between Irish businessman Derek Quinlan and private equity company PropInvest.

The transaction was structured as a share sale of a number of special purpose vehicles which held various interests in the property.  The transaction was reportedly the second largest ever UK single property transaction.  Along with the purchase by British Land of the Meadowhall shopping centre, SJ Berwin has therefore now advised on two of the three largest ever UK single property transactions.

Nicholas Plant commented: "We are delighted to continue to strengthen our relationship with RBS, having advised alongside Allen & Overy on RBS’s original acquisition of the Canary Wharf tower in 2003 and done so again on this disposal.  This transaction again demonstrates the strength of our corporate real estate offering - we recently advised Westfield on its £1,048 million Merry Hill joint venture, The British Land Company PLC on its £650 million joint venture with Tesco plc and this month also advised Westfield on the establishment of its £540 million UK Shopping Centre Fund."

Stephen Willson commented: “The transaction required close cooperation between our corporate and real estate groups and a blending of established practices for the sales of companies and properties.”

Newly-promoted corporate partner Nicholas Plant led the transaction alongside real estate partner Stephen Willson and corporate partner Michael Goldberg, assisted by corporate associate Nicholas Magowan. Specialist tax advice was provided by partner Heather Corben assisted by associates Giles Bavister and Tom McMullen.  Allen & Overy also advised RBS in relation to real estate issues.

For further information, please contact:

Nicholas Plant on 020 7111 2515 or by emailing nicholas.plant@sjberwin.com; or Stephen Willson on 020 7111 2255 or by emailing Stephen.willson@sjberwin.com; or Michael Goldberg on 020 7111 2404 or by emailing michael.goldberg@sjberwin.com; or Heather Corben on 020 7111 2148 or by emailing heather.corben@sjberwin.com

Aurelia Spivey, Business Development Manager on 020 7111 2060 or by emailing aurelia.spivey@sjberwin.com

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• SJ Berwin's highly regarded capital markets team acts for issuers, corporate financiers and quoted companies. We provide the full range of advice including IPOs on the official list and AIM, dual and secondary listings, secondary offerings including rights issues, placings and open offers, restructurings and reorganisations.
  
  
• We have a leading AIM practice. Our involvement in the sector is very strong - having advised on our first AIM IPO on the launch of the market in 1995 - we continue to advise many companies who have chosen AIM as their new home. Although we act on a wide range of AIM IPOs, our speciality is high value and international admissions, where our overseas network and full range of specialist advisers (tax, finance and regulatory as well as corporate) are able to add value.
  
  
• With more than 200 corporate finance lawyers, the depth and breadth of expertise of our pan-European Corporate Finance Department is considerable. We offer the complete range of corporate finance services, which extends to all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A and buy-outs, private equity, equity capital markets, financial services and tax.
  
  
• The corporate team has won a number of recent awards including:
  - “Corporate Team of the Year - Mid Markets” at the 2007 Lawyer awards
  - Fund Formation Team of the Year” 2006 at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Private Equity Advisory Services
  - “European Law Firm of the Year" 2004 - 2006 at the EVCA/Real Deals European Private Equity Awards
  - ”European Law Firm of the Year" (fund formation) 2001 - 2007 by subscribers to PrivateEquityOnline and Private Equity    International
  - "Private Equity Law Firm of the Year" 2004 - 2007 at the European Venture Capital journal awards 2004
  - "LBO Firm of the Year" 2004 at the Finance and Law Awards in Paris
  
  
• SJ Berwin's Real Estate Division totals 118 staff  in London of which 23 are partners (3 of which are tax partners) , and over 50 associates, 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.  In addition there are  3 dedicated European real estate partners
  
  
• The Real Estate Team was 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.