deal of the week - swiss life

Manchester niche commercial firm Perkins & Company now advises insurance giant Swiss Life on the majority of its UK property needs. The client was introduced by head of property Clive Bleasdale when he joined from Berrymans Lace Mawer 14 months ago. Since then, Bleasdale has advised Swiss Life on the acquisition of offices at Cannon Street, London EC4, for its investment services division.

But this latest property deal - which will see Swiss Life move from Crosby in the Liverpool suburbs to Albert Dock in the centre - is Bleasdale's biggest transaction to date for the insurance company. It will involve the transfer of more than 350 employees to the Edwards Pavilion building, which will give the company scope to expand its workforce to 500. Employment expert Ken Perkins, who founded Perkins & Company in 1992, worked with Bleasdale on the deal. The acquisition of the new site took six months to complete and involved the negotiation of 12 separate legal documents.