Pru brings Camerons in on sale of Lovells’ base

CMS Cameron McKenna has been drafted in by Prudential to advise on the sale of Lovells’ building Atlantic House to German fund Deka.

Lovells is the main corporate adviser to Prudential, but was obviously conflicted on this deal.

Since introducing its Mexican Wave scheme, Lovells has taken over Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) share of the PruPIM work, and the firm has since rolled out the scheme to Prudential.

However, in situations of conflict, Prudential now turns not to BLP, but to Camerons.

Camerons first acted for Prudential after its client Scottish Amicable was taken over by Prudential in 1997. Since that time the firm has acted on any deals on which Lovells has been unable to become involved in. Camerons still also advises on some of the former Scottish Amicable work.

Deka and Prudential are believed to have been negotiating over the 244,000sq ft Atlantic House since October last year, although it is thought that no deal has been signed as yet.

Simmons & Simmons real estate head Alan Butler is advising long-term client Deka, which has been very active in the City recently.

At the end of last year, Simmons advised the fund on the purchase of another Prudential building, Christchurch Court, for approximately £200m, with Lovells acting on the other side.

Simmons is also understood to be advising the German fund on the sale of the high-profile Lloyd’s building to Shelbourne Development in a deal believed to be worth around £250m.

Shelbourne Development is an Irish company, which is led and majority owned by property entrepreneur Garrett Kelleher.

Shelbourne Development has been active in a number of jurisdictions, but this is only its second big deal in the English market. Judging by current trends, however, more appear to be in the pipeline.

This is all good news for Jones Day Gouldens, which is understood to be acting for Shelbourne Development in England.