Paul leads the London corporate real estate practice, which is fully embedded in the real estate team.
Paul leads the corporate real estate practice at Herbert Smith Freehills. His unique role as a corporate lawyer working within the Real Estate team brings with it unrivalled sector knowledge and experience. This enables Paul to advise clients on the highest profile and most complex corporate real estate transactions in the UK market.
Over four consecutive years Paul has been identified in the Legal 500 as a leading next generation partner in Tier 1 for Commercial Property Development. He is referred to as an "expert in the structuring, negotiation and completion of complex development joint ventures", he has "forged a prominent reputation for corporate real estate matters" and "counts sovereign wealth funds, high-net-worth individuals and pension funds among his clients". He "maintains a strong reputation in handling corporate real estate matters".
Paul is widely regarded as the leading corporate real estate partner in the UK market.
Paul acts for listed vehicles, private equity funds, institutional investors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks and high-net-worth individuals from all around the world. He works on a broad range of corporate real estate transactions, including joint ventures (investment and development), structured investments, acquisitions, disposals and solvent/insolvent reorganisations.
His expertise includes seamlessly pulling together the corporate, tax, finance and property aspects of complex corporate real estate deals.
Pauls experience includes advising:
- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on several UK development projects (including Paradise Circus Birmingham, Wellington Place Leeds and Milton Park Oxford, as well as 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)
- Brookfield on its disposal of Schroders' HQ, One London Wall Place, to Middle Eastern investor AGC for in excess of £450 million
- Oxford Properties on its joint venture with British Land for the development of the 47-storey Leadenhall Building at 122 Leadenhall, London (formerly known as "the Cheesegrater") and the subsequent sale of it to CC Land for £1.15 billion
- British Land on the sale of the UBS headquarters building in Broadgate, London to Cheung Kong for £1 billion
- London & Continental Railways on the sale of its interests in the King's Cross Central Partnership (the entity that owns and is developing the King's Cross Central area in London) to the largest pension fund in Australia, AustralianSuper
- an Asian fund on the establishment of a 50/50 joint venture with a UK-listed property company for the development of a 200,000 square foot office-led mixed used development at Bond Street, London
- Steel Warriors, the anti-knife-crime charity, on a pro bono basis in relation to: (i) all aspects of its strategic partnership with Co-op, under which Co-op has agreed to fund the construction (from recycled knife steel) of numerous outdoor calisthenics gyms throughout the UK; and (ii) the construction of the gyms.
