International legal practice Norton Rose has fielded a team from its London and Toronto offices to advise Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited on its £228.5million initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.
The shares, which were admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List, began trading on 17 December 2012.
This is the largest investment company IPO of 2012 and, measured by funds raised, the second largest premium segment IPO of 2012 in the UK. Dexion Capital plc and Jefferies International Limited acted for the Company as joint sponsors, joint bookrunners and joint financial advisers.
Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited is a new Guernsey domiciled closed-end investment company with an investment objective of providing shareholders with regular dividends and an attractive total return while limiting downside risk, through the origination, execution, acquisition and servicing of a diversified portfolio of real estate debt investments in the UK and Continental European markets.
Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. The Group is managed by a seasoned executive team that has worked together for over 18 years. The Group has more than 230 employees, located across 11 offices in six countries, and as at June 2012 had approximately US$21billion of assets under management. Starwood Capital Group has undertaken more than US$11.5billion of property lending since 1998. This lending has been conducted through two publicly listed companies managed by Starwood, as well as numerous private funds.
The Norton Rose team was drawn from its London and Toronto offices, led by London based corporate partner Richard Sheen, assisted by Tim Page and Sam Dipper. U.S. securities law advice was provided by London based corporate partner Tom Vita and Alex Hirshfeld. Canadian securities law advice was provided by Toronto based corporate partner Mark Convery. Tax advice was provided by London based John Challoner.
The deal is the latest in a busy year for Norton Rose in the real estate sector. The firm has been involved in a number of the leading deals in the sector which demonstrate the breadth and depth of its practice. Other highlights have included:
- Advising the purchasers on the high profile £400million acquisition of Battersea Power Station
- Advising Peel Hunt and Investec as global coordinators for Redefine International plc on its £127million rights issue
- Advising Workspace Group PLC on the issue of its £57.5 million retail bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange
- Advising Picton Property Income Limited on its refinancing including two new facilities from insurers Aviva Commercial Finance Limited and Canada Life Limited secured over separate ring fenced pools of assets, with an aggregate value of £209 million and the rollover and issue of £20 million zero dividend preference shares, the only ZDPs in the sector
- Advising Ivanhoé Cambridge on an investment of over £100,000,000 in a partnership with Residential Land and Apollo Global Real Estate Management for central London residential investments
- Advising Bank of Ireland on the sale to Kennedy Wilson of a c£1.3bn portfolio of UK real estate loans.
