Pérez-Llorca provided legal advice to the financing syndicate associated with the purchase of Forum Algarve by Spanish asset manager Alfana Investment Management, in a deal valued at approximately 130 million euros. The shopping center, located in Faro, had been owned since 2000 by Commerz Real, the real estate asset manager of German bank Commerzbank, which was advised by Cuatrecasas in this transaction. The purchase agreement was signed in early September.
Pérez-Llorca's team was led by partner Carlos Vaz de Almeida from the Banking and Finance practice, with associates from the Banking and Finance, Real Estate, and Tax departments. The law firm advised the financing syndicate in the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of the financing associated with the transaction.
This is the first international acquisition by Alfana Investment Management, which has been very active in the shopping center segment in recent years and has one billion euros in assets in the retail sector. Forum Algarve, which belonged to the German manager's Hausinvest portfolio, should be integrated into the Rivoli Retail portfolio.
The deal was financed through private equity client investment from Banco Santander. In addition to the law firms mentioned, KPMG acted as financial advisor and CBRE and GMD were responsible for technical consultancy. Mario Schüttauf from Commerz Real stated that after 25 years of portfolio appreciation, they took advantage of high real estate demand to achieve a good result for investors.
