Global law firm Ashurst is advising Eastdil Secured, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Société Générale as financial advisers to Benedict Real Estate Bidco Limited, a subsidiary of one of Brookfield’s real estate private funds, in relation to the €1.089 billion recommended cash offer for Hibernia REIT plc (Hibernia).
Hibernia is an Irish Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) listed on Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange. Hibernia has built a property portfolio, primarily consisting of Dublin city centre offices, with a valuation of approximately €1.327 billion at 31 December 2021.
Brookfield is one of the world’s largest owners and operators of real estate, with over $250 billion of real estate assets globally. It is highly active in the office sector, with a portfolio of approximately (i) 200 million square feet of office real estate worldwide and (ii) 33.5 million square feet across Europe. In Europe, Brookfield’s real estate business comprises approximately $50 billion of assets across office, student housing, logistics, life sciences, residential, retail and hospitality.
It is intended that the acquisition will be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement to be sanctioned by the High Court of Ireland.
The Ashurst team was led by partners James Fletcher and Tim Rennie, with support from associates Colin Bugler, Sandile Sibiya and Matthew Vine.
