International law firm Bird & Bird has recently advised Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) LLC on the freehold sale to AW Properties Limited of a leading aerospace corporation’s UK headquarters at Celtic Springs Business Park near Newport, South Wales. We understand this to be the largest commercial property deal in South Wales over the past year.
Bird & Bird have built a longstanding relationship with GII, a leading Shari’ah-compliant global alternative investment company based in the UAE, with over US$3 billion of assets under management in real estate, private equity and venture capital. GII acquired the Celtic Springs property in its first investment in the UK real estate market in 2015. Bird & Bird previously acted for GII in the £140 million acquisition of Priory Court and the Lewis Building, one of the most prominent office and retail buildings in central Birmingham.
The Bird & Bird team was led by Clive Hopewell (partner, Corporate) and Richie Lamb (associate, Corporate) and included Toby Cooper (associate, Finance & Financial Regulation) and Alexander Greenwood (associate, Real Estate).
Clive Hopewell, partner in the Corporate practice at Bird & Bird says: “We are really pleased to have worked with GII again, on this landmark real estate deal. The deal was an ideal opportunity to showcase the breadth of our international Corporate, Islamic finance and Real Estate expertise in the M&A space. The deal further strengthens our relationship we have built over the years with GII and is a great example of how Bird & Bird builds lasting partnerships with our clients across the jurisdictions in which we operate, in this case the UK and the UAE.”
Julien Romanet, head of Global Real Estate at GII, commented: “In the current dynamic business environment, this transaction marks GII’s agility to navigate local markets with a specific attention to sustainability, liquidity and value creation. It has been a pleasure to work again with Bird & Bird on this latest UK deal.”
