Nabarros loses out on Grosvenor to Slaughters

Nabarro Nathanson’s bid to develop Grosvenor as a new client has suffered a knock after the property giant opted for Slaughter and May on its £850m Paradise Street regeneration project.

Slaughters partners James Featherby and Dermot Rice led the team advising the global property group on the funding of the landmark mixed-use project in Liverpool, which is the largest retail and leisure redevelopment project currently underway in Europe.

Under the arrangements for the project, the Grosvenor Liverpool Fund, which is backed by Grosvenor and other equity investors, will own and finance the redevelopment of 42 acres of retail space in Liverpool’s city centre.

Slaughters is a longstanding adviser to Grosvenor and is understood to have been instructed regarding the corporate and finance aspects of the deal in the summer of 2003. Boodle Hatfield, led by property partner Tim Manning, advised the property group on the real estate matters.

A spokesman for Nabarros, though, claimed that the firm would have been considered for the project had it started six months later because the firm has been developing a relationship with Grosvenor since the end of last year.

Nabarros corporate real estate partner Justin Cornelius explained: “As a firm we’ve advised Grosvenor on many of its other UK property funds, but on this occasion they were on the other side of the table.”

Nabarros advised the syndicate of other equity investors in the Grosvenor Liverpool Fund, which included existing Nabarros clients Liverpool Victoria and Arlington, as well as Redevco Properties.

Berwin Leighton Paisner was also involved in the project, advising Liverpool City Council, while Allen & Overy advised the group of four banks, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, in their role as senior debt providers.