Taylor Wessing advises Tritax Big Box REIT on £370m acquisition of db Symmetry

Taylor Wessing has advised Tritax Big Box REIT plc ("Tritax") on its acquisition of an 87% economic interest in db Symmetry, which owns one of the UK’s largest strategic land portfolios for the development of Big Box real estate assets and related logistics facilities.

The acquisition, which attributes an enterprise value of £370 million to db Symmetry, is being funded with a mixture of equity and cash raised pursuant to a placing and open offer underwritten by Jefferies.

Taylor Wessing has advised Tritax on numerous real estate acquisitions, forward fundings, debt financings and capital markets fundraisings, including its IPO in 2013.

Tritax is the only real estate investment trust dedicated to investing in very large logistics facilities in the UK.

Commenting on the transaction, relationship partner William Belcher, said:

"This was a complex and challenging transaction to work on, combining capital markets, M&A and private equity skill sets, and we were very pleased to help Tritax achieve this major success."

Henry Franklin, partner at Tritax Investment Management, said:

“Taylor Wessing fielded a multi- disciplinary team to help us execute this transaction in extremely difficult market conditions. The team's seamless delivery of advice across a diverse range of areas in demanding time frames was a significant factor in enabling us to secure this strategic acquisition.”

The complexity of this deal required the expertise of over 50 fee earners, drawn from numerous teams including Corporate Finance, Private Equity, Real Estate, Tax and Incentives, Financial Services, Construction, Banking and Finance, Commercial Technology and Data, and Employment and Pensions.