Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken the lead roles on US private equity firm Lone Star’s £700m acquisition of Wembley Arena-owner Quintain Estates and Development.
The agreement sees Lone Star’ bid company Bailey Acquisitions Limited, which is indirectly controlled by the firm’s Real Estate Fund IV, offer around £700m in cash for the property developer that has substantial land owning in Wembley Park and planning permission for 5,500 homes.
BLP advised Quintain having previously worked on its £186m disposal of interests in the Greenwich Peninsula. Its team was led corporate finance partners Nick Myatt and Alex Latner with support from Dylan Mackenzie and Cath Shirley while client relationship partner and BLP chairman Robert MacGregor gave real estate advice to the group that floated in 1996 and David Dennison covered incentives.
A&O’s team also built on its relationship with client Lone Star, having previously acted on its acquisition of Moorfield Funds I and II in December 2014 and on its Jury’s Inn buy in January this year. Its team was led by corporate partners George Knighton and Annabelle Croker, real estate finance partner Arthur Dyson and real estate partner Chris Woolf.
Knighton commented: ‘We are delighted to be working with Lone Star on another large transaction in the real estate sector. On this transaction we deployed a full team with expertise covering public takeovers, acquisition finance, real estate and tax issues.’
The bid company received financial advice from Morgan Stanley which saw Ashurst pick-up an additional role advising the bank. Its team was led by corporate partners Karen Davies and Tom Mercer with finance advice given by Mark Vickers and Tim Rennie.
Lone star’s bid for the £60m turnover company involves a cash offer of 131p per Quintain share – a 22.4% premium on the 28 July closing price. The deal is being partially financed by a £425m term facility with Wells Fargo.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk
