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King & Spalding Represents Pramerica Real Estate Investors in Connection With EUR 75 Million Shari'ah-Compliant Refinancing of a Real Estate Portfolio in Luxembourg
| Source: King & Spalding
LONDON--(Marketwire - August 2, 2007) - King & Spalding, a leading international law firm,
announced today that it represented a Luxembourg based Shari'ah-compliant
fund advised by Pramerica Real Estate Investors ("Pramerica"), in
connection with the EUR 75 million acquisition and Shari'ah-compliant
refinancing of a Luxembourg real estate portfolio.
Hypo Real Estate Bank International AG, represented by Allen & Overy,
provided the debt funding for the refinancing. King & Spalding was
responsible for structuring the acquisition of the portfolio (which was
initially acquired by three Luxembourg SPVs with equity) and the subsequent
Shari'ah-compliant refinancing which was structured on an Ijara-wa-iqtina
(lease to own) basis.
The King & Spalding legal team on the transaction was led by partner Jawad
I. Ali with assistance from a team of lawyers from the firm's London office
composed of counsel Mike Rainey and associates Robin Balmer and Elisabeth
Lyon.
"The completion of the Luxembourg portfolio refinancing culminates an
active 12 months for the firm's London office which has advised clients on
over US$3.0 billion of Shari'ah-compliant financings across Europe and the
Middle East including financings in the UK, France, the Czech Republic, The
Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Russia and now
Luxembourg, with a number of such transactions being a 'first time
transaction' in such jurisdictions," Ali said. Michael Rainey added: "In
addition to having to structure the transaction on a Shari'ah-compliant
basis the transaction also posed many conventional challenges including the
granting of security in favour of a security agent and ensuring cross
collateralisation 'on a portfolio basis.'"
About King & Spalding
King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in
Atlanta, Charlotte, Dubai, Houston, London, New York, Riyadh (affiliated
office) and Washington, D.C. The firm represents half of the Fortune 100,
and in a Corporate Counsel survey in August 2006 ranked as one of the top
ten firms representing Fortune 250 companies overall. For additional
information, visit www.kslaw.com.