A&O acts in u1.5bn estate deal

Allen & Overy has ad-vised on the largest-ever European property securitisation.

The firm acted for bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter on the u1.54bn securitisation of the Broadgate estate in the City of London.

The deal outweighs that of Canary Wharf, which last year was thought to be the largest multi-million pound property securitisation conducted.

The Canary Wharf deal was also handled by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, again advised by Allen & Overy.

David Krischer, securitisation partner at Allen & Overy who led the 10-strong team on the deal, says: "This is probably the biggest single estate deal in a long time."

He adds: "I don't think there is another estate of this kind in Europe with a value like this."

A six-strong team at Simmons & Simmons provided financial advice to British Land, the owner of the Broadgate properties, while SJ Berwin handled property matters for the company.

Krischer says legally the deal is extremely complex, because the two eurobonds which underlie the transaction are semi-secured and unsecured.

He says the legal team had to put together a complicated security and control package in order for the Stock Exchange and credit agencies to pass the deal.