Firm advises Telereal Holdings – a joint venture set up for the sale of BT’s 7,000-property portfolio
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is celebrating its advisory role to the winning bidder on the outsourcing of BT’s UK property portfolio – the £2.3bn deal is the largest deal of its type in the UK.
Freshfields, led by property partner James George and finance partner Jeffrey Rubinoff, advised Telereal Holdings, a joint venture between Land Securities Trillium and William Pears Family Holdings set up for the transaction.
Land Securities Trillium has become a familiar client for Freshfields this summer – the firm has also been instructed by Insight, another Land Securities joint venture, on the BBC property outsourcing.
Ashurst Morris Crisp was the lead property adviser to BT on the deal, although Lawrence Graham and Addleshaw Booth & Co were involved in the due diligence.
The deal began in earnest last November after BT invited tenders for the right to buy the 7,000-property portfolio.
The Ashursts team was led by property partners Ian Nisse, Simon Cookson, Anthony Burnett-Scott and David Perks. The team worked closely with BT’s in-house lawyers, led by chief counsel for business services Ian Jones.
“It was a complicated deal due to the sheer number of properties involved,” Nisse said. “The due diligence alone constituted a huge job.”
Ashursts were first instructed to handle BT’s property portfolio in 1991. The firm is likely to take a much-reduced role in the clients’ property affairs once the outsourcing has completed.
The deal remains conditional on Telereal completing its funding arrangements which it intends to do by raising finance on the bond markets.
The news follows the announcement last month that Wragge & Co had won its first major instruction from BT. Wragges is advising BT on Project Jaguar, in which the management of 8,500 properties will be outsourced to a consortium of property companies comprising Carillion, Balfour Beatty and Reliant Security. The five-year deal is estimated to be worth £600m.
Property outsourcing is proving to be a lucrative hunting ground for top property lawyers who have seen a steady stream of deals over the last 12 months.
