Donald Rowlands

Don provides advice on a wide range of institutional purchases and disposals, joint venture investments, developments, letting and finance transactions for overseas investors, funds, developers, corporate and professional tenants on some of the most high profile transactions in the UK and EMEA.

Based in London, Don has particular expertise in acting for clients on large development projects, and in the corporate, property, finance and taxation aspects of disposing of and acquiring property by structured corporate acquisition and disposal, and establishment of joint ventures for a variety of investors. His expertise in real estate is highlighted in Chambers UK and Legal 500 UK, where he is top ranked and named in the "Hall of Fame" across various sectors of the real estate market.

Don's experience includes advising:

• Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) on the creation of a £500 million "build-to-rent" (BTR) residential property joint venture with Long Harbour, a UK real estate and asset-backed investment manager specialising in the BTR sector, and on its subsequent joint venture with Long Harbour and Cadillac Fairview to form a £1.5 billion BTR platform 
• Alecta, Allianz and Local Pensions Partnership on their £650m fund investment in the DOOR LP, which owns shares in Get Living (a market-leading PRS residential platform)
• Hammerson:
  • on its structured corporate disposal of its operating platform of £400 million of UK retail parks to Brookfield;
  • on its £140 million structured corporate disposal (together with CPPIB) of Silverburn Shopping Centre to Henderson Park Investors;
  • on the joint venture arrangements and acquisition with Allianz of a portfolio of loans secured against a portfolio of market-leading retail assets in Dublin (including Dundrum Town Centre) for €1.85 billion. Also advised Hammerson and Allianz on the consensual agreement with the borrowers to transfer ownership in the underlying properties to Hammerson and Allianz and associated joint venture and development management arrangements.
• Citigroup on the acquisition of its European HQ building, Citigroup Tower, for a consideration in excess of £1 billion and ongoing real estate advisory issues
• London Wall Place (formerly a joint venture between Brookfield and Oxford Properties, now 100% owned by Brookfield) on the development, pre-letting and financing of London Wall Place (a 500,000 square foot City of London development scheme partly pre-let to Schroders and Clearly Gottlieb)
• Brookfield on various City projects, including the development, pre-letting and funding of 100 Bishopsgate, London EC2 (a 1 million square foot City of London tower building)
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on several UK investments, including its 50:50 development joint venture with Land Securities Group to redevelop The Nova Estate (a circa £1 billion mixed-use office, retail and residential scheme) and on its subsequent sale of its interest in The Nova Estate in London for £445 million to Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust and ARA Dunedin Asset Management, on the circa £200 million joint venture acquisition with Hermes of Phase 2 at Paradise Circus Birmingham and the joint venture acquisition with Lendlease Group of a four-building circa £1.5 billion development scheme at the International Quarter, Stratford
• Qatar Holding on the structured acquisition from the National Pension Service of Korea of the HSBC Tower Building, 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London.