Manchester – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Simon Woolley, head of North West Banking at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary (“DLA Piper”) led the legal team which acted for the funders on the £300m acquisition of the residential portfolio of The British Land Company PLC.
British Land has contracted to sell its interests in its residential property investment portfolio to clients of Insight Investment, the asset management arm of the HBOS Group. At the same time a subsidiary of British Land has entered into a contract under which it will provide on-going asset management services for the portfolio.
Liz Sweeney and the other members of DLA Piper’s Manchester banking team also advised on the transaction.
“This was an extremely complicated deal by virtue of its structure and the sheer scale of the portfolio – around 1500 properties – and it took a fantastic team effort to conclude this deal in a tight timeframe,” said Simon Woolley.
Stephen Hester, Chief Executive of British Land, commented: “The sale of these residential assets results from our continuing review of the portfolio to identify non-core assets for disposal. We are also pleased to be utilising our asset management expertise in the sector on an ongoing basis as advisers to Insight, thereby extending the fund management track record and earnings of British Land. We look forward to a fruitful partnership and helping them to build a leadership position in this sector. ”
