The London offices of US firms Paul Hastings and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are advising on the £125m sale of the Marriott London Grosvenor Square Hotel and the acquisition of a majority stake in British online bathroom retailer Victoria Plumb for around £200m respectively.
Top 35 Global 100 law firm Paul Hastings led by London real estate partner Jeff Diener is advising long-term client Strategic Hotels & Resorts on the sale of the 5-star Mayfair hotel to Hong Kong-based private equity firm Joint Treasure. The Paul Hastings team also includes London chair Ronan O’Sullivan and associate Matthew Poxon on corporate issues, and partner Arun Birla and associate Jiten Tank on tax issues.
Sackers advised Strategic Hotels on pensions issues while Forsters advised Joint Treasure.
The sale provides an exit from the European market for Strategic Hotels, and its chairman and chief executive officer Raymond Gellein said: ‘By closing on the sale of the Marriott London Grosvenor Square, we are finalising our exit of the European market, as previously committed. In addition, this sale will eliminate approximately $1.0 million of annual frictional costs associated with the asset and allow us to redeploy capital into one of the highest growth assets in our portfolio.’
Meanwhile, a London-based Cleary Gottlieb M&A team advised US private equity firm TPG on its £200m investment in Victoria Plumb, led by partner Sam Bagot with corporate associate Katja Armstrong. Partner Richard Sultman and associate Jennifer Maskell advised on tax matters and Colin Pearson advised on IP matters.
Members of the Walker family, who founded Victoria Plumb in 1999 and bought flat-pack furniture brand MFI from administrators in 2009 via Walker Capital, were advised by Wendy Harrison in DLA Piper’s Leeds office.
The Walkers will continue to co-own the company, which sells bathroom suites through mail order and its website.
Reported sales at the retailer last year jumped by 37.9% to £26.2m while pre-tax profits grew by a quarter to £6m.
Francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk
