International law firm Clifford Chance has advised British investor Rockspring Property Investment Managers (“Rock-spring”) as fund manager of German Retail Box (Jersey) Properties Limited (“GRBF”) in connection with the granting of a loan in the amount of 275 million Euros. The loan was granted to refinance a real estate portfolio.
The portfolio consists of retail properties in Germany with an aggregate lettable space of approximately 347,000 square meters. It was originally financed via a EUR 282 million loan by Lloyds Halifax Bank of Scotland for GRBF, which has now – eight months before its maturity in September 2013 – been refinanced by a consortium of banks. The new creditors cosist of SEB, Helaba, Deutsche Hypothekenbank, Corealcredit Bank AG and ING Bank. In total, Rockspring currently manages over EUR 1 billion of retail warehouse properties in Germany and has been active in this market for the last eight years.
Clifford Chance has advised Rockspring/GRBF in all aspects of the financing, including the relevant tax structuring, and is frequently mandated by Rockspring in this regard.
The advising Clifford Chance team which was lead by partner Dr. Beda Wortmann (Banking & Capital Markets) further consisted of partner Dr. Jan H. Grabbe (Tax) and associate Dr. Katalin Legradi (Banking & Capital Markets) – all Frankfurt – as well as partner Jane Cheong (Finance, London).
