The Real Estate group from independent UK law firm Burges Salmon has been named Real Estate Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2016.
For this award, judges were looking for a standout example of real estate-related work, including financing, development or construction, or cases and transactions in planning, environment and regeneration areas. Judges were also looking for evidence of cutting-edge advice on complex matters.
Burges Salmon won this award for advising the sellers of the AUB UK Student Accommodation Fund on the sale of the sharia compliant fund to the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF).
The Burges Salmon team, led by Real Estate partner Rick Read, brought together lawyers from the firm’s Corporate, Banking, Tax, Planning, and Construction and Engineering teams, in advising on the sale of the entirety of the Fund’s portfolio of eight student accommodation properties located throughout the UK for £271 million.
Since 2010 Burges Salmon has acted for AUB in acquiring, developing, funding (through Islamic finance) and managing a portfolio the UK wide student accommodation fund.
Rick Read said: “We are thrilled to be named as Real Estate Team of the Year at these prestigious awards. It demonstrates the strength and the depth of the work we do in the real estate investment market. The complex nature of the deal together with the unique requirements of the client meant that the cross-firm team had to work very closely together to deliver the transaction for the client, and we were delighted to be able to achieve that.”
Legal Business commented: “Whilst this wasn’t the largest deal of the year, it was certainly unique. It involved the disposal of a Guernsey-based, sharia compliant, Middle Eastern-owned UK property fund. Perhaps a first for the UK property market.”