Irwin Mitchell and Mishcon tap new property clients for £109m Almacantar deal
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Irwin Mitchell and Mishcon de Reya have both won lead roles acting for new clients on Almacantar’s £109m purchase of two London midtown properties from Tishman Speyer.
Neil Murray
Property investment and development company Almacantar bought CAA House and 1 Kemble Street, off Kingsway, from Tishman Speyer for a reported figure of around £109m.
The two inter-connected office buildings span 229,164 sq ft and are both held freehold and leased to the Civil Aviation Authority until December 2019 at £6.2m a year, or roughly £27 per sq ft.
Mishcon advised Almacantar on the deal, with the firm’s team comprising real estate partner Stephen Hughes, corporate partner Ross Bryson and banking partner Mike Bardell.
It was the first time Mishcon had received an instruction from Almacantar, with the company hiring Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for the purchase of two trophy assets last year, Centre Point Tower for £100m and Marble Arch Tower for £80m (26 September 2011). However, Freshfields real estate partner Chris Morris said the magic circle firm was never Almacantar’s exclusive adviser.
According to Hughes, Mishcon got its foot in the door with Almacantar through its relationship with one of the company’s investment directors who used to work at Delancy, a long-time client of Mishcon.
Almacantar turned to Dechert for Luxembourg advice on the deal.
Irwin Mitchell real estate partner Rob Thompson, who used to work at SJ Berwin with Mishcon’s Hughes, advised seller Tishman Speyer along with corporate partner Edward Persse. This was also Irwin Mitchell’s first instruction from the real estate building and operating company.
Tishman Speyer does not have an official panel and instead works with a number of firms. It was a known client of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, which pulled out of the UK real estate market earlier this month after its sole property partner left for King & Spalding (9 July 2012).
Almacantar financed the latest deal with a £60m, three-year loan from Crédit Agricole CIB and Deutsche Postbank, which were advised by Stephenson Harwood finance partner Neil Murray and real estate partner Paul Hayward-Surry. Both are relatively recent hires for the City firm, with Murray joining from Travers Smith in 2010 (3 September 2010) and Hayward-Surry a 2011 recruit from SNR Denton (4 January 2012).
Readers' comments (10)
Chris | 18-Jul-2012 9:10 am
There is no "midtown" (intro para) in London.
I know it seems a petty point but these things catch on if no one challenges or corrects them....
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Anonymous | 18-Jul-2012 12:18 pm
Chris, you're wrong. There is a Midtown in London. It even has it's own defined area and is part of the IPD research papers.
Move with the times.
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Christine | 18-Jul-2012 12:50 pm
Chris: owned.
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The Lawyer T-Shirt Offer | 18-Jul-2012 12:51 pm
Dear Sir,
There is a pedant stalking the Lawyer looking for typos or grammatical errors. Surely it is time for The Lawyer to print t-shirts saying "I have been pedanted".
When the pedant strikes, The Lawyer should send the author of the offending words a free t-shirt.
No doubt there are errors in this missive which will offend the pedant - please commence packaging up my t-shirt so that it arrives in time for me to wear it at my comprehesive school reunion on Saturday night.
Yours Sincerely (or is it Faithfully - I can't remember but you know what I mean)
Ivor Noclassical-education
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Chris | 18-Jul-2012 1:10 pm
Anon - thank you for that. But I have to tell you that the names of the districts of London are not decided by IPD. Perhaps you should stop being a slave to commercial interests.
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Ricky Dunn | 18-Jul-2012 1:52 pm
Chris - "the names of the districts of London are not decided by IPD".
That's true, but frankly who cares? Don't be a slave to pedantry.
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Anonymous | 18-Jul-2012 2:13 pm
Do you decide the names and districts of London then Chris?
The real estate industry knows what Midtown is and they will not be losing sleep that you do not like it.
Do you still insist on referring to Londinium rather than London?
Move with the times.
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Anonymous | 18-Jul-2012 7:59 pm
These comments are hilarious. Let's hope no one in the real world is reading them.
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Anonymous | 18-Jul-2012 8:16 pm
To Anonymous | 18-Jul-2012 12:18 pm
Are you taking the micky with ..."It even has it's own defined area and is part of the IPD research papers"?
If you are being a pednet or crtisizing one, at el\st learn how to spell proepry.
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Pednet? | 20-Jul-2012 6:42 am
Send him a t-shirt saying "failed pedant"
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