We are a market leader in the provision of comprehensive legal services to clients in the property sector in Australia and in Asia. Many of Australia and Asia’s leading property development companies and property fund managers choose us for our understanding of the industry and our ability to provide innovative legal advice that maximises the commercial solutions they are looking for on property transactions.

Freehills has advised on some of the largest and most innovative property deals in the market in recent years. We offer a range of legal and strategic services including:

• single and multi-property assets acquisitions and sales
• corporate property portfolio divestments
• listed and unlisted property trust takeovers and mergers
• shopping centre acquisitions
• hotel and leisure facility acquisitions and disposals.
  

Some of our recent experience includes:

• Sale and acquisition of Central Plaza 1, 2 and 3, Queensland
  • adviser to QIC as vendor on the sale of these three major commercial office buildings (largest commercial property transaction in Queensland)
  • adviser to Australian Prime Property Fund on acquisitions in two of these buildings.
• Disposal of 13 office buildings, national – adviser to Investa Properties Limited. The total estimated market value of the buildings is $1.6 billion, making this one of the largest commercial property sales in Australian history.
• 400 George St Disposal, Queensland – adviser to Leighton Properties concerning the sale of this state-of-the-art, 34 storey office building with five star green rating. 
• Merry Hill Shopping Centre Acquisition, United Kingdom – adviser to QIC on the acquisition of a 50% share (A$1.4 billion) in this centre.
• Parkway Parade Shopping Centre Acquisition, Singapore – adviser to Asia Pacific Investment Company on the S$480 million acquisition and subsequent development. 
• Property acquisitions, ACT and New South Wales – adviser to Real IS AG on the acquisition of the Edmund Barton Building ($186 million), Dawn Fraser Building ($105 million) and ATO Building ($205 million). 
• ANZ Head Office Acquisition, Victoria – adviser to ANZ.
• Acquisition of 11 properties, national – adviser to Investec Property Limited. The properties were acquired subject to a newly granted lease, the terms of which were negotiated prior to acquisition of the properties.
• Hobart Airport Acquisition, Tasmania – adviser to Macquarie Bank Limited.
• Hotel acquisitions, national – adviser to Mirvac on the acquisition of interests in a number of hotels.
• Acquisition of hotel interests of Raffles Holdings, Singapore – adviser to Colony Capital Asia Ltd. This deal won ALB Singapore M&A Deal of the Year in 2006. 
• Supa IGA Supermarkets Disposal, national – adviser to Metcash Trading Limited.
• BankWest Tower Disposal, Western Australia – adviser to Valad on the sale to Stockland of a half share of this tower. 
• Property sale and leaseback, national – adviser to Boral in connection with 12 properties.

The significant growth of both listed and unlisted property trusts have contributed to increased activity in the Australian property sector in recent years. This has encompassed all major segments of the market: industrial, office, residential and retail.

Freehills continues to be at the forefront of acquisitions and disposals no matter the cycle point in the market. Ownership structuring, tax considerations and transaction due diligence play a key role in the successful and timely execution of property transactions.