White & Case wins Maddocks’ Sydney real estate head

White & Case has made a major lateral hire in Alicia Albury, who previously led the real estate team at Maddocks’ Sydney branch.

“Alicia’s experience aligns well with several of our global transactional practices, particularly in renewable energy transactions, making her a strategic addition to our Australia practice. We are also observing significant levels of Japanese investment into Australian real estate”, said White & Case partner and vice chair Oliver Brettle.

Albury joins the global real estate industry group and the global M&A practice, practising from Sydney. Bringing more than 25 years of experience. she has tackled property-related restructuring, turnaround and insolvency matters, and energy and resources land tenure issues. She has worked with developers, owners, and investors on industrial, commercial, and major infrastructure and renewable energy projects.

Brettle confirmed that Albury would work closely with Tokyo-based partner Eriko Sakata.

“Energy transition and infrastructure transactions, greenfield developments, and M&A and restructuring activities are expected to remain robust in the Australian market, where real estate expertise is essential for these deals,” said partner Eugene Leone, who co-leads the global real estate industry group. “The global rise in data centre M&A deals, driven by private equity investment, is also anticipated to continue through 2024 and beyond, with Australia and the Asia-Pacific region being key markets for major investors. Alicia’s addition will help expand our real estate team in Australia and the Asia-Pacific, enabling us to better support our clients in these transactions”.

Kate Perumal, office executive partner at White & Case Sydney, said that Albury would be collaborating closely with the firm’s project development and finance, M&A, and financial restructuring and insolvency practices in Australia; Albury would also work with the Melbourne real estate team, “playing an integral role in our deal offerings”.