Clifford Chance has advised long-standing client Canary Wharf Group on the £495 million acquisition by US Investment Bank J.P. Morgan of 25 Bank Street, Canary Wharf. It also advised on the receipt by Canary Wharf Group of £144.5m for a rental guarantee on the building provided by AIG. Mayer Brown advised long standing client J.P. Morgan on the acquisition of the building and in relation to its refurbishment.
The building, which has over one million square foot of floor space, will become the new European headquarters for J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank. J.P. Morgan has been granted a new 999 year lease of the property.
The deal follows Clifford Chance’s involvement in advising Canary Wharf Group on the recent office occupations by KPMG, Shell and Fitch. These moves, together with the addition of J.P. Morgan at 25 Bank Street, contribute significantly to increasing the working population of Canary Wharf, taking it above 100,000 for the first time.
Lead Clifford Chance Partner from London Real Estate, Tony Briam, comments: “We were very pleased to work with Canary Wharf Group on this high profile transaction involving a real estate focused multi-disciplinary team bringing this to a successful conclusion for our client. The deal is a great economic boost for London and the wider UK economy.”
Lead Mayer Brown Real Estate partner, Jeremy Clay, said: “We were delighted to help J.P. Morgan in relation to the acquisition of their new European Investment Bank Headquarters, and their continued investment in the UK.”
A Clifford Chance Real Estate-led team comprising Real Estate, Corporate, Insolvency, Finance & Capital Markets and Tax lawyers advised on a number of legal aspects of the transaction.
On the Real Estate side, Tony Briam was assisted by Consultant Richard Coleman, Senior Associates Justin Turner, Angela Kearns, Sarah Dawson and Alis Pay and Associates Ed Byne and Ian Painter, as well as Senior Associate Michael Redman (Planning), Senior Associate Ben Hatton and Associate Jane O’Leary (Real Estate Litigation). The Clifford Chance team also included Capital Markets Partner Andrew Forryan and Senior Associate Amer Siddiqui; Corporate Partner Mark Poulton and Senior Associate Sze-Shing Tan, Insolvency Partner Nick Frome; Finance Partners Andrew Brozman and Jennifer DeMarco and Tax Partner Sarah Squires who was assisted by Senior Associate William Reay-Jones and Simon Corzberg (Director – VAT).
A Mayer Brown Real Estate-led team comprising Real Estate, Corporate, Insolvency, Capital Markets, Construction and Tax lawyers advised on the transaction.
On the Real Estate side, partner Jeremy Clay led the team along with Real Estate partners Anita Jones and Nick Marshall, senior associate Iain Roberts and associate Kirsty Sherwood. The Mayer Brown team also included Capital Markets partner Drew Salvest; Corporate partner Richard Page; Insolvency partner Ian McDonald; Construction partner Chris Fellowes and associate Debbi Simon; Tax partner Peter Steiner together with partners in the firm’s New York and Chicago offices.
