Allens has acted as legal counsel for the Mandated Lead Arrangers, Underwriters, Bookrunners and Lenders, comprising BNP Paribas, United Overseas Bank Ltd, Sydney Branch (each an MLAUB), and Standard Chartered Bank, Australia Branch (as a Lender), to reach financial close on a loan financing for an agreed off-market takeover. The legal advice was in relation to the debt financing for the acquisition of Propertylink Group (ASX:PLG) (Propertylink) by ESR Real Estate (Australia) Pty Ltd (ESR).
Propertylink is an internally managed real estate group listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, with A$1.8 billion of assets under management. Specialising in Australian industrial and office investments, Propertylink wholly owns a diverse industrial property portfolio, an investment management platform and co-investments in a range of external funds.
Based in Hong Kong and backed by US private equity firm Warburg Pincus, ESR is a leading logistics real estate platform with a network spanning across the Asia-Pacific region. Its acquisition applies to the stapled structure of Propertylink, which consists of Propertylink (Holdings) Limited, Propertylink Trust and Propertylink Australian Industrial Partnership.
‘We are pleased to have acted as legal counsel for BNP Paribas, United Overseas Bank and Standard Chartered on the debt financing aspects of the strategic and complex takeover process of ASX-listed Propertylink, which is reflective of a recent trend in public M&A to consider an off-market as well as schemes of arrangement,’ said lead Partner Tim Stewart.
