The trend of foreign money flowing into the UK real estate market continued last month. This time the investment came from Canada and saw a raft of Legal Business 100 and international law firms pick up advisory roles.
Nabarro, Clifford Chance (CC), Pinsent Masons, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Dechert and Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott won roles advising on the £1.1bn acquisition of UK student accommodation provider Liberty Living by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
Liberty Living is one of the UK’s largest student accommodation providers, with over 40 residences located in 17 university towns and cities. The deal saw CPPIB buy its entire UK accommodation portfolio from the Brandeaux Student Accommodation fund, as well as its managing companies, Liberty Living’s management platform and Liberty Living Management Two, to create a single integrated company.
Nabarro advised CPPIB with a cross-practice team, including real estate partners Amanda Howard, Christopher Luck and Nick Collins, banking and finance partner Mike Delaney, tax partner Kirsten Prichard Jones, intellectual property partner Louise Gellman, employment partner Richard Brown and pensions partner Anne-Marie Winton.
CC advised Brandeaux with a team including partners Adrian Levy, Imogen Clark, Catherine Cook and David Saleh. London partner Iain Wright, with support from partner Kate Habershon, led for Morgan Lewis, which advised the owner of Liberty Living Management Two.
Real estate finance partner Eleni Skordaki, who led a team at Dechert advising Liberty Living on financing aspects, said: ‘What’s important is how an outside pension provider decided to make such a high-value investment in Europe. It has a lot of European investment, but this was by far the biggest. It is important for the real estate market as a whole that there are outside investors willing to back the sector in the UK.’
Skordaki, who Dechert hired in July 2014 from Olswang, where she served as real estate finance head, previously advised Liberty Living on a £300m financing package provided jointly by HSBC and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Both banks also provided financing to this deal and were advised by a Pinsents team led by real estate finance partner William Oliver, while Stikeman acted as Canadian counsel for the pair and Harneys as British Virgin Islands counsel.
Skordaki added: ‘The other thing is it’s not just real estate, it’s an operating business as well, which shows the appetite in the market, finding investments that are sound, and are not just bricks and mortar, but have an associated business.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk