Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance succeeds at the PERE Awards once again

Clifford Chance has once again been acknowledged as a leading law firm in private equity real estate for both fund formation and transactional work, picking up four prestigious awards at the 2012 Global Private Equity Real Estate (PERE) Awards.

The firm achieved the following wins for its work in Europe and Asia:

• European Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation)
• European Law Firm of the Year (Transactions)
• Asia Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation)
• Asia Law Firm of the Year (Transactions)

The PERE Global Awards are voted for by the industry itself, with thousands of votes cast and this is the sixth consecutive year that Clifford Chance has been awarded European Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation). The firm has also been awarded in the other categories several times previously and acted as counsel to various clients who were shortlisted or won awards.

In its awards editorial commenting, PERE magazine stated that Clifford Chance "can look back on quite a tally of work" and that the firm "advised on a number of [deals] involving altogether [complicated] situations and both international and domestic players".

Clifford Chance's international network has been involved in a number of high-profile transactions in the private equity real estate space, as referenced in PERE magazine, including:

• The spinout of DRC Capital from Duet Private Equity and its subsequent fundraising effort
• MGPA on the creation of its opportunity fund, MGPA Europe IV
• CITIC Capital on its fourth private equity real estate fund, its China Retail Properties fund, which will be used for investments in retail properties across greater China
• Invesco Real Estate on the formation of one of its first funds since it acquired the Asia real estate investment management business of American International Group in 2011
• Hong Kong-listed Soundwill Holdings on its first private capital fund for real estate
• MGPA on its first Australian acquisition, the A$105m (€80m; $10m) purchase of 6-10 O’Connell Street in Sydney’s central business district
• CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust, a retail property trust with more than 2.4m sq ft of property valued at approx RM2.9bn (€700m; US$935m), on the sale of nearly US$105m of its units.

Gerard Saviola, London partner in the private funds group, comments: "We are really pleased with these award wins, which highlight the strengths of our firm. Our leading international real estate fund formation and investment transaction practices allow us to work seamlessly on cross-border fundraisings, and our real estate debt capabilities further strengthen our offering to clients in the private equity real estate space."