|
|
Droit de l’Immobilier
Tout au long de ses 60 ans d’existence, Cleary Gottlieb est demeuré un pionnier du droit immobilier à travers le monde, fournissant à ses clients des solutions conformes à leurs besoins commerciaux cependant que la taille et la complexité des marchés augmentaient. Partie intégrante de notre pratique globale unifiée, notre équipe immobilier intervient dans des opérations de premier plan, nationales et internationales. Témoignage de la qualité de notre travail et du service rendu au client, le marché salue notre “équipe de grande qualité formée des meilleurs associés ” et nos avocats qui “pensent de manière créative aux problèmes et ont une connaissance active de domaines autres que leur sphère de spécialisation.” (Chambers USA, 2007)
Read More »
Nov 17, 2009
Cleary Gottlieb represented Goldman Sachs on its $400 million loan to subsidiaries of U.S. mall owner Developers Diversified Realty, secured by 27 malls. This financing is the first to be securitized under the Federal Reserve Bank's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility ("TALF") and potentially signals the reopening of the commercial mortgage-backed securitization market, which has been frozen since the onset of the financial crisis.
Jul 28, 2009
Cleary Gottlieb is representing Nortel Networks on the sale of its wireless infrastructure assets through a bankruptcy auction to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson for $1.13 billion, an increase of almost $500 million from Nokia Siemens’ original stalking horse bid for these assets. The sale followed a twelve-hour auction that took place in Cleary Gottlieb’s New York office on July 24. It was approved on July 28 after a joint hearing held simultaneously before courts in the United States and Canada.
Nortel has been a client of Cleary Gottlieb for more than 20 years. The firm is currently acting as U.S. bankruptcy counsel to Nortel and affiliates in their U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings, which are closely coordinated with proceedings in Canada, the United Kingdom and France. The firm is also representing Nortel on a stalking horse sale agreement with Avaya for the purchase of Nortel’s global Enterprise Solutions business, including units in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This sale is also subject to an auction process and court approval.
In recent years, the firm has represented Nortel in a number of financing and M&A transactions, including the sale of assets related to Nortel’s UMTS access business to Alcatel-Lucent. The firm also advised Nortel on European aspects of its sale to Flextronics of manufacturing operations and related activities in Canada, Brazil, France and Northern Ireland.
Nov 21, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb is representing the German Savings Bank Association (“DSGV”) with respect to back guarantees granted by DSGV and other major German banking associations and financial institutions to the Federal Republic of Germany in connection with a €50 billion rescue package arranged by the German Federal Government and various significant financial institutions for the Hypo Real Estate Group.
In 2007, Cleary Gottlieb advised DSGV on the acquisition of Landesbank Berlin Holding AG (formerly “Bankgesellschaft Berlin”).
Jun 16, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb represented Meraas Capital LLC in its acquisition of a 20% interest in the GM Building through a joint venture with Boston Properties Limited Partnership and US Real Estate Opportunities I, L.P., a Goldman Sachs managed investment fund. The governments of Kuwait and Qatar are the principal investors in US Real Estate Opportunities. The joint venture acquired the GM Building from Harry Macklowe for $2.8 billion, and three other New York office buildings for an additional $1.1 billion.
General Motors developed the GM Building in 1968. It is a landmark 50-story office tower located in the heart of New York’s Plaza District, and it is home to tenants including Weil Gotshal, Estee Lauder and FAO Schwartz. It is also the site of the cutting edge Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed glass cube that serves as the entrance to the underground Apple Store.
As part of the deal, the joint venture also agreed to purchase three other New York office buildings, 2 Grand Central Tower, 125 West 55th Street and 540 Madison Avenue, for an additional $1.1 billion. The aggregate purchase price for all four assets was $4 billion.
Meraas Capital LLC is an investment company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Meraas is envisaged to become a leading real estate and private equity investment holding company with a multibillion dollar diversified portfolio of investments that include income-producing and long-term strategic assets globally.
Boston Properties is a Public REIT that owns, operates and develops Class A office buildings throughout the United States.
Apr 03, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb represented Nakheel Hotels in its acquisition of a 50% interest in the One&Only Palmilla, a Mexican resort with an enterprise value of $315 million. Nakheel acquired its stake in the resort from real estate opportunity funds affiliated with Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund. Kerzner International Holdings Limited, a developer and operator of destination resorts, casinos and luxury hotels, including the Atlantis and One&Only brands, will retain a 50% interest in the property as Nakheel’s joint venture partner. The deal closed on April 3.
Nakheel Hotels is a fully integrated hotel investment and development company that invests money on behalf of the government of Dubai.
The One&Only Palmilla is a 250-acre luxury oceanfront resort located in a master-planned community in Los Cabos, Mexico. It includes a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The One&Only Palmilla was listed as the number one resort in Mexico by Condé Nast Traveler’s 2007 Annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
Jan 21, 2009
Cleary Gottlieb represented Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V. (Grupo Bimbo) in its acquisition of Weston Foods, Inc., the U.S. bakery division of George Weston Limited, for U.S.$2.38 billion and its acquisition of related financial assets for U.S.$125 million. The transaction closed on January 21, 2009.
Seven banks financed the transaction through a U.S.$1.9 billion dual currency term facility with a three-year tranche, a five-year tranche and a U.S.$900 million dual currency one-year bridge facility that is expected to be taken out in the local bond market. A substantial portion of the commitments were funded in Mexican Pesos, requiring Grupo Bimbo to engage in foreign exchange transactions in between funding and payment to George Weston Limited on the day of closing. This is the largest cross-border acquisition financing in recent months in Latin America.
Grupo Bimbo, which is among the world’s largest baking companies in terms of production and sales volume, has more than 80 plants and 800 distribution centers located in 18 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Grupo Bimbo produces over 5,000 products and its direct distribution networks comprise more than 36,500 routes and 96,000 employees.
As a result of this transaction Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU), Grupo Bimbo’s consolidated U.S. operation, becomes one of the largest baked-goods companies in the country, with a leading position in bread, buns, sweet baked goods and cakes. BBU’s brand portfolio now includes Arnold, Bimbo, Boboli, Brownberry, Entenmann’s, Francisco, Freihoffer’s, Marinella, Mrs Baird’s, Oroweat, Stroehmann, Thomas’ and Tia Rosa.
Apr 15, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb is representing Deutsche Post in its €1 billion sale of a portfolio of real estate to U.S. investor Lone Star Funds. The portfolio comprises about 1,300 assets located mainly in Germany. After the transfer of the properties to Lone Star, Deutsche Post will lease most of them back under an innovative lease agreement. The deal is expected to close successively as assets are ready for transfer, beginning on July 1.
Deutsche Post is part of the Deutsche Post World Net, one of the world’s leading logistics companies with over 467,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. In 2007, it had €63.5 billion in revenues.
Lone Star Funds are headquartered in Dallas, Texas. They are closed-end, private-equity limited partnerships that include as partners corporate and public pension funds, university endowments, foundations, bank holding companies, family trusts and insurance companies.
Apr 01, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb represented Goldman Sachs Mortgage Company in the origination of an $850 million loan to affiliates of Gramercy Capital Corp., a public REIT, to finance its purchase of American Financial Realty Trust, another public REIT that owns a portfolio of over 900 bank branch buildings. The deal closed on April 1.
The acquisition was one of the few public REIT acquisitions to occur during the current credit crisis. The loan was originated in two tranches, one tranche secured by mortgages on approximately 250 properties, and the other tranche secured by a multi-tiered structure of pledges in the equity of several hundred property-owning entities.
Nov 19, 2007
Cleary Gottlieb represented Istithmar Building FZE in its sale of 280 Park Avenue (the former Bankers Trust Building), an office building located in New York, to Broadway Partners for $1.275 billion. The contract was signed on April 2, and the deal closed on November 19.
Because Istithmar acquired the property in June 2006, the transaction was structured to include an assumption by Broadway Partners of the mortgage and seven levels of mezzanine debt. 280 Park Avenue includes approximately 1.2 million square feet of class-A commercial office space as well as high-end restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.
Nov 13, 2007
Cleary Gottlieb represented Goldman Sachs Mortgage Company in its origination of mortgage and mezzanine loans in the aggregate amount of $1,800,000,000 to affiliates of the Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2007. The variable rate loans, which were funded on October 25, financed the acquisition of Equity Inns, Inc., a publicly traded hotel real estate investment trust (REIT), by the Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2007 and certain of its sister funds, and is secured by first lien mortgages on a portfolio of 111 hotels under various franchise names in 34 states, as well as pledges of indirect equity interests in an additional 24 hotels.
Goldman Sachs Mortgage Company is the commercial mortgage lending affiliate of Goldman Sachs & Co. Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2007 is one of the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, a series of investment funds raised and sponsored by Goldman Sachs & Co. for purposes of investing in commercial, multifamily, hospitality and recreational property around the world. Prior to its acquisition by Whitehall, Equity Inns, Inc. was a Memphis, Tennessee-based REIT and was the third largest publicly traded hotel REIT.
Jan 18, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb represented the Goldman Sachs European Real Estate Banking Group as co-arranger of a $165 million secured syndicated mezzanine credit facility for RosEvroDevelopment ("RED"), a group specializing in the development and management of shopping and entertainment centers in Russia. In its press release announcing the completion of the facility, RED stated that the facility is Russia’s first commercial real estate sector mezzanine finance transaction. Coordinating the new financing with RED’s existing project finance arrangements was one of the challenges. Given current credit market conditions, participants in the Russian real estate market regard the completion of the deal as notable. The deal closed on January 18.
Apr 09, 2008
Cleary Gottlieb represented Nakheel Hotels in its acquisition of a 50% interest in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort for $375 million, and the negotiation of related joint venture and hotel management arrangements. The deal closed on April 9.
Designed by legendary architect Morris Lapidus and serving as a celebrity destination for more than half a century, the resort is located on 17 acres of ocean-front property in Miami Beach. On completion of its $500 million renovation, the resort will have more than 1,500 luxury guest rooms and suites. In the event that gaming is legalized in Florida, the deal documentation provides for the reconfiguration of the property to permit the operation of a casino and gaming activities at the resort.
Nakheel Hotels is a fully integrated hotel investment and development company that invests money on behalf of the government of Dubai. Fontainebleau Resorts, LLC is a private resort and casino developer whose projects also include a new 63-story Fontainebleau Las Vegas on the Las Vegas strip.
Counsel in the Largest Real Estate Transaction in History
(Blackstones' $36 Billion Equity Office LBO)
“Cleary Gottlieb operates a global REIT practice, and representing lenders in REIT-related financings accounts for a substantial portion of its workload.”
Chambers Global (2009)
“This team has established itself in real estate financing … The team is strongest on the lender side and the firm’s international reach has been a major asset, with its reputation growing steadily in the Middle East and Latin America.”
“‘This team excels in extraordinary and unusual transactions,’ report clients, who are equally impressed by its thoroughness and speedy responses … ‘They work to get the deal done instead of trying to prove that they are the smartest people in the room.’”
Chambers USA (2009)
“[Cleary Gottlieb’s] New York real estate partners are extremely versatile, with each developing experience of a variety of different transactions across the corporate, finance and dirt spheres through the years, and share among them an ‘unsurpassed ability to work through difficult issues.’”
The Legal 500 - US (2009)
“The group enjoys a wide-ranging practice that encompasses joint ventures, bankruptcy, large-scale M&A and joint ventures, and is commended by market sources for its innovative and creative approach.”
“Cleary Gottlieb operates a global REIT practice, and representing lenders in REIT-related financings accounts for a substantial portion of its workload... Another strength of the firm is representing REITs on capital markets transactions, including CMBS matters.”
Chambers USA (2008)
“The ‘compact yet high-quality’ [real estate] team of top partners ... is renowned for its international client base and its ability to punch above its weight.”
Chambers USA (2007)
Recommended in Real Estate (NY)
PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2008)
|
|
|