Minter Ellison advised on the acquisition of ASX-listed Charter Hall Office REIT

May, 2012 - Sydney, New South Wales

Minter Ellison advised the syndicate of banks that provided the A$1 billion financing in relation to the acquisition of ASX-listed Charter Hall Office REIT by a consortium comprising Reco Ambrosia Pte Ltd (an affiliate of Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd), Public Sector Pension Investment Board (a Canadian pension fund) and Charter Hall Property Trust.

Charter Hall Office REIT owns interests in 18 commercial office buildings across Australia with a portfolio valuation of approximately A$1.9 billion. The acquisition was by court-approved scheme of arrangement and Charter Hall Office REIT has now been delisted.

Finance partner Daniel Marks and real estate partner Don MacCallum advised the bank syndicate. "The privatisation of Charter Hall Office REIT highlights the continued investment interest of offshore sovereign wealth funds and pension funds in well-managed quality Australian property portfolios, and the ability to attract syndicated debt," Daniel Marks said.

In the past year, our team advised the same syndicate of banks on a similar take-private financing of a listed REIT – the A$1.1 billion syndicated facilities to a consortium (comprising ASX listed Goodman Group, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, All Pensions Group and China Investment Corporation) for the takeover of ING Industrial Fund by scheme of arrangement.

Minter Ellison's Finance team has also acted for the financiers on a number of other syndicated debt financings for Charter Hall Group.

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