Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Jones Day are leading a raft of firms advising on a £1.4bn property deal between Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company and Delancey. Olswang, Mishcon de Reya and Simmons & Simmons are also acting on the joint venture.
Qatari Diar, which is wholly owned by sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, will join together with Delancey’s flagship client fund DV4 and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG creating the £1.4bn large scale residential investment company and a sizeable new force in the capital city’s residential market.
The equal partnership between investors will kick off with an initial portfolio of 4,000 new market-rate rented homes located across London’s East Village (pictured) and Elephant and Castle.
The HSF team, acting for Qatari Diar, was led by real estate partner Alice Dockar, corporate partner Alex Kay and competition partner Andre Pretorius. Dockar had seconded at Qatari Diar as an interim general counsel for two years and acted for on its joint venture with Canary Wharf relating to the Shell Centre last year.
In addition to M&A representation, Jones Day is providing real estate and banking advice regarding the transaction. The firm’s team on the deal is led by real estate partner Alex Millar and private equity partner Anna Cartwright acted for DV4 alongside Olswang, Mishcon de Reya and London firm Michael Cohn Goldsobel.
The team from Olswang comprised tax partner Clíona Kirby and corporate partner Paul Blackmore.
Simmons & Simmons is advising APG on the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval. The Simmons & Simmons team was led by corporate partners Gideon Sharp and Jason Daniel and real estate partner Ali Crosthwaite.
They were supported by environment partner Steve McNab, tax partner Nick Cronkshaw, competition partner Peter Broadhurst, banking partner William Greig and litigator Stephen Gentle.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk