4 March 2021
Baker McKenzie has been recognized by Private Equity Real Estate (PERE) in its 2020 Global PERE Awards as Asia Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation) and Asia Law Firm of the Year (Transactions).
In the past 12 months, the Firm has been involved in a number of headline deals. On the transactions front, the Firm represented Gaw Capital and the consortium to successfully close the HKD 9.845 billion acquisition of Cityplaza One from Swire Pacific and Swire Properties. The Firm also assisted Link REIT on its AUD 683 million acquisition of 100 Market Street, a 10-storey A-grade office tower located in Sydney, from US private equity firm Blackstone Group.
On fund formation, the Firm has also advised on a number of notable transactions. These include advising Gaw Capital Partners on the formation of Gateway Real Estate Fund VI, L.P., which raised USD 2.2 billion in total equity, and another USD 800 million in sidecar co-investments, and advising APG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on the establishment of a USD 1 billion joint venture with ESR for development of logistics assets in South Korea.
"We are thrilled to be named Asia Law Firm of the Year in both the 'Fund Formation' and 'Transactions' categories. What was particularly pleasing is that we were able to help our clients successfully complete these deals in spite of the challenging market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jason Ng, partner and co-chair of Baker McKenzie's Global Funds Group, said. “It is extremely gratifying to see that our ability to bring an integrated cross-practice, multijurisdictional service offering is valued by our clients as well as leading institutional investors, managers and other key players in the private real estate fund industry. We would like to thank PERE for this recognition, and also our clients for entrusting us with their most complex deals."
Baker McKenzie's Fund Practice is highly regarded in the world. The global team advises sponsors and investors on both private and public investment funds, covering a wide range of fund structures and asset classes, including private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure, mezzanine, hedge funds, and regulated funds, across the full deal lifecycle.
Ranked Band 1 by Chambers & Partners for its work in Funds (Private Equity and Registered Funds) in the Asia Pacific region, the team has been involved in many notable transactions, including advising long-term client Gaw Capital on its USD 1.3 billion IDC platform fundraising and its acquisition of the DUO Tower and DUO Galleria in Singapore; representing Equinix Inc. in its USD 1 billion joint venture with GIC to develop and operate xScaleTM data centres in Japan; and representing Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in the AUD 3 billion acquisition of a 88% stake in AirTrunk, a hyperscale data centre platform provider across Asia Pacific.
PERE is a leading publication covering the global private real estate markets. The Global PERE Awards annually recognize the leading law firms, financial institutions, deals, and individuals in the private equity real estate market.
For further information, please contact:
Jamie Kar, Senior Communication Manager, Baker & McKenzie
