Lawyer leads on £300m+ property deal

A NORTH West lawyer is advising on a deal to create a listed property investment company with a market value of around £400m.

Howard Gill, corporate partner at Pinsent Masons in Manchester is working with AIM-listed Redefine International – a property group formerly known as Ciref – on its reverse takeover of fully-listed group Wichford.

Redefine – which is also listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange – has a number of North West assets having bought up large parts of the former Modus Property portfolio after the administration two years ago of the Manchester-based group. 
These include shopping centres in Wigan and Birchwood, Warrington.

The enlarged group would initially have a £300m+ market capitalisation, with the potential to rise to approximately £400m after a further capital raise if this is implemented as planned. 

If the deal goes ahead as planned the group will  own over £1bn of property investment assets.

Mr Gill, who has acted for Redefine for around five years, said: “We are delighted to continue to advise our long standing client following on from the £106m hotel acquisition in London last year. 

“The proposed merger is a complex deal involving regulatory issues across a number of jurisdictions including the UK, South Africa and the Isle of Man and will see the creation of an enlarged company in the mid-tier of the UK listed property sector on the FTSE 350.”

Mr Gill is being assisted by corporate solicitor James Thompson.