Leeds property team advises National Grid on £13.8bn deal
A PROPERTY team of Leeds advisers aided National Grid on the sale of its UK gas distribution business.
National Grid agreed to sell the controlling stake to a consortium backed by Australian investment bank Macquarie in a deal which valued the business at £13.8bn.
The consortium will pay £3.6bn in cash for equity interest and National Grid will also receive £1.8bn in debt financing.
Addleshaw Goddard’s real estate team acted as lead lawyers on the property separation aspects of the deal.
It includes the transfer of more than 10,000 properties along with other panel firms including DLA, Irwin Mitchell and Eversheds.
It created an online platform allowing more than 200 users from four panel law firms, the National Grid, surveyors and valuers to input data.
The AG team was led by real estate partners, Ian Smith and Cathy Fearnhead, and managing associate Kerry Westland who heads up AG’s specialist tech team within the transaction services division.
Ian Smith stated: “We needed to think creatively in order to overcome several logistical challenges with this project. Our innovative platform delivers volume at pace in a way unimaginable a few years ago. By employing tools such as workflow and document automation, the system saves all parties a significant amount of time and cost.”
