Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Al Mal Capital REIT on acquisition of assets of Wesgreen International School

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Al Mal Capital REIT (AMCREIT), the first REIT listed on the Dubai Financial Market, on the acquisition of the assets of Wesgreen International School in Sharjah from Al Batha Real Estate Company for a consideration of AED 265 million (USD 72.14 million).

The school consists of two campuses - Muwaliah and Al Qaraien - which are currently leased to and operated by GEMS Education. After the acquisition, GEMS will continue to be the lessee and operator of the school.

AMCREIT is a closed-ended real estate investment trust listed on the Dubai Financial Market and managed by Al Mal Capital, which was founded in 2005 as a leading investment advisory and asset management firm regulated by SCA, and is a subsidiary of Dubai Investments PJSC. The acquisitions are part of AMCREIT's strategy of acquiring high quality real estate assets with a strong focus on education and healthcare.

The Clifford Chance team advising AMCREIT was led by partner and Head of Real Estate - Middle East, Tariq Imam and included Leen Kayali (Trainee, Dubai) and Hessa Alqassim (Paralegal, Dubai).

Commenting on the transaction, Tariq said: "We are delighted to have advised AMCREIT on its strategic acquisition of this longstanding school. The education sector is a space in which we are seeing strong investment activity in the UAE at the moment. The deal had a number of interesting features and it was pleasing to support AMCREIT as part of their build out of the portfolio."

Clifford Chance's leading real estate team advises on the full range of real estate transactions in the region, with particular expertise in investment transactions, development projects, real estate financing and restructuring transactions, as well as hotel and leisure matters. The team has a strong track record of advising on some of the largest and most complex transactions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, most recently including advising DP World on the sale of a minority stake in its strategic Dubai free zone and port assets to CDPQ for US$5 billion, the largest real estate M&A transaction in the UAE in recent times.