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Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Link REIT on its recent landmark retail Sydney CBD transaction, the A$532.8 million acquisition of a 50% stake in the Queen Victoria Building, The Strand Arcade and The Galeries from Singaporean sovereign fund, GIC Private Limited.
Link REIT is a Hong Kong-listed real estate investment trust which owns and operates shopping centres, parking space facilities, retail spaces and offices. It is also the largest REIT in Asia in terms of market capitalisation.
The transaction, which is Link REIT’s second acquisition in Australia, was undertaken by a cross-practice, cross-border Herbert Smith Freehills team led by Real Estate partner Michael Back, M&A partner Philip Podzebenko and Hong Kong M&A partner Tommy Tong. They were supported by executive counsel Leone Costigan (Real Estate), senior associates James Peterson (Real Estate) and Matt Li (Hong Kong M&A) and solicitors Brandon Barrio (Real Estate), Matt Dulaney (M&A) and Cara Chan (Hong Kong M&A).
Michael Back said, "Congratulations to Link on its acquisition of 50% interest in three iconic Australian retail centres. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with the Link in-house legal and commercial teams and to bring to the deal the expertise and experience of our Australian and Hong Kong real estate and corporate M&A teams within an extremely tight timetable".
Kenneth Wong, Link REIT’s Chief Legal Officer, said, "Thanks to the professional and round-the-clock effort of this multi-jurisdiction team, we have been able to overcome enormous challenges to enter into this transaction within a very demanding timeframe. Indeed, we have struck a strong partnership with Herbert Smith Freehills since we first entered the Australian market by acquiring 100 Market Street".
This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in the real estate M&A sector.