CATEGORY
Law Firm of the Year, Poland
Linklaters is one of the world’s pre-eminent law firms. We regularly advise the world's leading companies, financial institutions and governments on their most challenging transactions and assignments. Our Warsaw office is one of the largest and most experienced international law practices in Poland staffed with over 70 lawyers. There are very few premier international law firms for whom real estate is a major practice area. For us, the real estate sector is a key part of our business strategy, and we are committed to expanding our real estate capabilities further in order to meet needs of our clients. Our Real Estate team acts for major domestic and international real estate investors, developers and occupiers on premium investment, development and real estate M&A deals. Our core team consists of experienced experts: lawyers with comprehensive experience in real estate, construction and planning.
Name of company
Linklaters C. Wiśniewski i Wspólnicy Spółka Komandytowa
Department head or senior representative in Poland, real estate
Artur Kulawski, Head of Real Estate Practice, Managing Partner
Key current clients
AEW Europe; Aviva Investors; Blackstone; CBRE Global Investors; Echo Investment; Gramercy Europe; Griffin Real Estate; Goodman; GTC; HansaInvest; Kulczyk Silverstein Properties; MEAG; Newbridge; NIAM (NIAM has chosen Poland as their first place to invest outside Scandinavia and Linklaters as their legal advisor); Oaktree; Panattoni Europe; PIMCO, Skanska Property Poland; TFI PZU; TIAA; TRIUVA; UBM Development; Union Investment; W. P. Carey
Participation in property sales and acquisitions between October 2015 and September 2016
Advising: CBRE Global Investors on the EUR 203m acquisition of Sfera Shopping Centre in Bielsko-Biała, one of the largest and outperforming shopping centres in Poland; CBRE Global Investors on the EUR 92m acquisition of Jantar Shopping Centre in Słupsk; Echo Investment on the sale of the Q22 office building in Warsaw; Gramercy Property Europe on the EUR 45m acquisition of two logistic parks (Gramercy’s first acquisition in Poland); Kulczyk Silvestein Properties on the sale of Warsaw’s Stratos Office Center; MEAG on the sale of Warsaw Corporate Center office building to Valad Europe; NIAM on the EUR 160m acquisition of four office buildings located across Poland, reported as the largest office transaction in CEE in 2015; Union Investment on the EUR 117m acquisition of the Dominikański building in Wrocław, the largest office building developed by Skanska; W. P. Carey on the acquisition of Multimedialny Dom Plusa, the headquarters of the giant Polish telecommunications operator Polkomtel.
Participation in development projects between October 2015 and September 2016
Advising: Gramercy on the development of Kellogg’s logistic facilities; GTC on two construction contracts regarding infrastructure associate with and around the new shopping center Galeria Północna - one of the largest shopping centres in Warsaw currently under construction in the north part of Warsaw (our advisory included drafting and negotiating the construction contracts with associated documents, including the proper implementation of the arrangements with the City of Warsaw, the road manager and other local managers of the relevant public infrastructure); Panattoni Europe on a number of high-profile development matters (including construction, leasing and financing advice); UBM Development in relation to the preliminary forward and sale agreement regarding the construction and sale of a new Holiday Inn in Warsaw to an investment fund belonging to the German Union Investment Group.
Total value of the transactions on which your company adviced between October 2015 and September 2016 (IN EUR)
over EUR 3bn
Please say why you should be considered for the award
Our team has dominated league tables for real estate for many years. Clients appreciate our passion for the sector and uncompromising standards across all the key legal aspects: transaction management, robust contracts and efficient, innovative financing. Our lawyers have worked, and continue to work very hard to ensure that we retain and drive client’s growth whilst cementing relationships with new clients. There are two main characteristics that make us stand out from our competitors. Firstly, our team is very stable: the majority of our senior lawyers have been with Linklaters for a decade or more, which is unique in the market we operate. Secondly, it is our efficiency, quality, size of our group and the transaction experience of its members that enable us to provide quality advice and transactional assistance within a record time.
Company website
http://www.linklaters.com/Pages/Index.aspx