Gleiss Lutz and CMS have advised the Pradera retail property fund and asset managers on its EUR 900 million acquisition of 25 prime retail parks in eight European countries from IKEA Centres. The sellers were advised by Mannheimer Swartling.
The parks, each located beside an Ikea store, were acquired by the Pradera European Retail Parks SCSp fund, which is backed by equity investments from private wealth partnership, LJ Partnership. LJ Partnership took a significant minority stake in the business in May 2016.
The portfolio of retail parks situated next to IKEA stores includes around 500 units with a gross lettable area of around 538,000 square meters. Completion on 17 assets located in Germany, France, and Poland is expected on April 4, 2017, with a further eight retail parks in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland due to complete on August 31.
Founded in 1999, Pradera’s EUR 2.7 billion portfolio prior to the acquisition included 44 shopping centers and retail parks in the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, and China with more than 2,500 stores.
Gleiss Lutz advised on German law as well as on the overall transaction and coordinated the work of the law firms involved, including CMS in Poland and the Czech Republic, Accura (Denmark), Cederquist (Sweden), Hannes Snellman (Finland), Michelez & Associes (France), Stephenson Harwood (France), Walder Wyss (Switzerland), SJL Jimenez Lunz (Luxembourg), Loyens & Loeff (Netherlands), Addleshaw Goddard (Great Britain).
The Gleiss Lutz team was headed by Partners Tim Weber and Burkhard Jakel and included Frank Schlobach, Svenja Bender, Isabel Jahn, Johannes Grob, Vanessa Bayliss, Andreas Kohlheim, Patrick Steinhausen, Oksana Weber-Kim; Tobias Johannes Abend, Michael Ilter, and Alexander Kruger (in Frankfurt), and Konrad Discher, Jonas Rybarz, and Matthias Schilde (all Berlin), and Jacob von Andreae, Kevin Grimmeiss, Eva Koch, and Antonia Harbusch (and Dusseldorf).
The CMS team was led by Partners Wojciech Koczara and Lukas Hejduk, supported by Marcin Pasik, Joanna Pierzchala, Michał Maslak, Grzegorz Paczek, and Konrad Werner in Poland and Petr Koral, Petr Huk, and Lukas Valusek in the Czech Republic. The CMS team was responsible for the due diligence of the Polish and Czech assets and supporting in the preparation of transaction documentation including financing documentation.
The Mannheimer Swartling team was led by Tomas Johansson in Sweden, as well as other law firms in the relevant jurisdictions.
