Acquisition is the company’s first outside of mainland China and Hong Kong
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has advised Hong Kong-listed Link REIT on its $683m (US$430m) acquisition of 100 Market Street, Sydney from the Blackstone Group.
The acquisition, which is the company’s first outside of mainland China and Hong Kong, represents approximately 1.66% of its total assets (as of 30 September 2019), and was funded by a combination of debt and equity.
The HSF team was led by partners Michael Back, Philip Podzebenko, and Philip McMahon, and was assisted by executive counsel Leone Costigan, senior associates Laura Walsh and Anthony Economou, and solicitors Catie Moore, Jess Burstow, and William He.
“We are delighted to have assisted Link REIT on this landmark acquisition in Australia. It has been a privilege to work alongside some of the best in-house talent in the industry and we look forward to working together again in the near future,” said Back.
“It has been a great pleasure working with this group of intelligent and diligent people,” said Alex Au, general counsel (M&A) at Link REIT. “The seamless cross-team effort across HSF’s corporate, real estate and finance teams, as well as the Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills team, is very much appreciated, and has been instrumental in navigating us through our first of hopefully more acquisitions to come in Australia.”
Link REIT owns and operates shopping centres, parking space facilities, retail spaces, and offices and is the largest organisation of its kind in Asia in terms of market capitalisation.
