Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Maples Teesdale have acted on a deal that sees a string of shopping centres that had been funded by a Lehman Brothers loan sold to the fund UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT).

Neil Sagoo
Riverside, Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres in Shrewsbury were bought for an estimated £61m. The original owner - a Protego fund - plunged into negative equity and Hatfield Philips was subsequently appointed as special servicer to the Lehman loan.
Maples Teesdale partners Shehrnaz Dolasa and Mark Bryan led a team advising its longstanding client UKCPT, which is managed by Ignis Asset Management.
Maples partner Neil Sagoo, who was part of a firm-wide team, said: “It’s involved pretty much everybody in the firm. We’re a niche commercial property firm and on this particular matter there were over 120 occupancy leases to review.”
The receivers, GVA Grimley, were advised by BLP partner John Kelsey and senior associate Dipak Vaghela.