On December 12, 2007 Arcandor AG announced that it had reached agreement with a consortium on the main terms and conditions for the sale of the Karstadt real estate portfolio. The consortium is led by RREEF, Deutsche Bank’s alternative investments subsidiary, Milan-based Pirelli Real Estate, and the Borletti Group. Arcandor sold the real estate in 2006 to a company now owned by itself (49%) and Whitehall, a Goldman Sachs fund (51%). As announced by Arcandor, the consortium will now take over Arcandor’s share in this company. The transaction is based on a valuation of the entire Karstadt real estate portfolio of approximately EUR 4.7 billion.
In addition to the purchase of the Karstadt real estate portfolio, Arcandor and the consortium have signed a letter of intent outlining their intention to establish a European department store alliance, in which the consortium acquires a stake of up to 25% in Karstadt’s Premium segment, which includes, amongst other major department stores, the KaDeWe in Berlin. Karstadt would, in return, acquire stakes of up to 25% in the Italian La Rinescente and the French France Printemps department store chains, which are controlled by Pirelli RE and the Borletti Group. The medium term purpose of the alliance is to create an integrated, pan-European department store portfolio. Completion of the transaction is subject to a detailed investigation.
Gleiss Lutz were lead advisers to RREEF, Pirelli RE and the Borletti Group on both projects.
The Gleiss Lutz team was made up of partners Dr. Jan Bauer, Dr. Alexander Schwarz (corporate/M&A) as well as Dr. Bernhard Busch (real estate) and, concerning the alliance with respect to premium department stores, Peter Steffen Carl and Dr. Ralf Morshäuser (both corporate/M&A).
The following Gleiss Lutz lawyers were also involved in the transaction:
Purchase of Karstadt real estate: Dr. Andreas Neun, Dr. Burghard Hildebrandt (partners, real estate) and Dr. Hendrik Maroldt, Philipp Naab, Verena Schweiß, Dr. Florian Wettner, Dr. Roland Hartmannsberger, Dr. Annette Middel, Dr. Viktoria Kress, Gregor Kollmorgen (all real estate) as well as Dr. Matthias Müller, Dr. Björn Simon, Dr. Thomas Richter, Irina Shklovska, Sharon Kahanov and Verena Hügel (all corporate/M&A).
Investment in Karstadt premium segment: Dr. Barbara Jagersberger, Dr. Cornelia Topf, Dr. Patrick Binzel, Dr. Christian Vocke, Martin Lembke (all corporate/M&A), Dr. Thomas Winzer and Dr. Jörg Buschbaum (both employment).
Gleiss Lutz has been involved in a large number of major real estate transactions over the last twelve months. Dr. Jan Bauer and Dr. Christian Cascante advised Blackstone Real Estate, for example, on the acquisition of the Hilton Hotel Group for the equivalent of EUR 19.1 billion. Gleiss Lutz was also voted Law Firm of the Year for „Real Estate and Construction“ and „Real Estate” by the JUVE Law Directory.
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