By Andrew McIntyre

Law360 (July 2, 2020, 11:24 AM EDT ) White & Case and Hogan Lovells were among more than a dozen firms that helped with the 10 largest real estate mergers and acquisitions deals of the second quarter, five of which were north of the $1 billion mark.

White & Case LLP and Hogan Lovells landed work on the largest deal of the quarter, ADO Properties SA's nearly $3.5 billion purchase of a majority of Consus Real Estate AG. Meanwhile, Dentons, Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov, and Ilej & Partners were among the other law firms that helped with the largest deals of the quarter.

New deal activity in April and May was slow due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but transaction flow picked up in June and half of the 10 largest deals of the quarter were signed in the second half of that month.

Dealogic's data account for transactions that were announced in the second quarter and have either closed or remain on track to close. The figures include debt.



The largest deal of the quarter saw White & Case-counseled ADO Properties purchase a 75% stake in Germany-based Consus Real Estate for nearly $3.5 billion, and Hogan Lovells' Michael Schlitt and Birgit Reese helped Consus with that sale.

That deal was announced late in the quarter, on June 29, when ADO, also based in Germany, exercised a call option to take control of Consus. The deal is still pending.

Meanwhile, the second largest deal of the quarter saw China-based Zhuhai Investment Holdings Co. Ltd. pick up another 8.89% stake in Gree Real Estate Co. Ltd. for roughly $2.4 billion.

Zhuhai Investment had already been the largest shareholder in the real estate company prior to the additional purchase, which was announced on May 23 and remains pending. Gree Real Estate is based in Zhuhai, China.

Counsel information for the transaction was not immediately available.

Coming in at No. 3 for the quarter, meanwhile, was Lone Star Global Acquisitions Ltd.'s sale of a 61.49% stake in Poland-based Globe Trade Centre SA to Hungarian real estate investment firm Optima Befektetesi Zrt. for roughly $1.7 billion, one of two deals on the Top 10 list that have been completed.

Dentons was lead counsel to Optima on the deal with a team that included Rob Irving and István Réczicza, while Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov provided Bulgarian law advice to Optima. Ilej & Partners in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners helped Optima with Croatian law matters and Karanovic & Partners provided Serbian law counsel to Optima.

Meanwhile, Schoenherr counseled Global Trade Centre on the matter and Rymarz Zdort advised Lone Star.

With the purchase, Optima picked up several office and retail properties in Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. That deal was announced on April 6 and closed on June 23.

Meanwhile, the fourth largest deal of the quarter saw China-based Langold Real Estate Co. Ltd. pay Power Construction Corp. of China Ltd. roughly $1.6 billion for Powerchina Real Estate Group Ltd.

That deal was also announced late in the quarter, on June 20, and is pending.

And rounding out the Top 5 deals of the quarter was Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s acquisition of a 50% stake in the AXA Tower in Singapore from Singapore-based Perennial Real Estate Holdings Pte. Ltd. for roughly $1.2 billion.

That deal, which was also the final transaction of the period above the $1 billion mark, was inked on May 6 and remains pending. The 50-story office tower sits on a retail podium and is the tallest cylindrical tower in the world.

Counsel information for deals Nos. 4 and 5 on the list was not immediately available.

The next two deals on the Top 10 list were announced the last two days of the quarter, and both are pending.

At No. 6, announced on June 30, was China state-owned enterprise CITIC Group Corp.'s $994 million purchase of a 50% stake in Guangzhou Wanxi Enterprise Management Co. Ltd. from developer China Vanke Co. Ltd.

Counsel information was not immediately available.

And following, at No. 7, was Blackstone Property Partners LP's purchase of a 49% stake in a Hollywood portfolio from Hudson Pacific Properties for $809 million, a deal the companies announced on June 29.

Blackstone looked to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for counsel on that matter, while Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP helped Hudson Pacific Properties and Latham & Watkins LLP counseled HPP on tax matters.

Simpson's Scott Kobak, Sas Mehrara, Nancy Mehlman, Whitney Salinas, Andrew Blau, Rachel Stein, Jeanne Annarumma, Aryeh Goldman, Stephanie Brenner, Robert Wentworth, Laura Hsu, Wendell Ramsey Jr., Taylor Hatch, Edward Grais and Joo Hyun Lee helped Blackstone, while Jesse Sharf, Paul Issler, Keith Biancamano, Mark Osher, Daniel Ball, Mehdi Eddebbarh, Alexander Robinson, Cindy Li, Carlos Soto and Jason Myers at Gibson assisted HPP.

And Ana O'Brien, Julian Kleindorfer and Michelle Carpenter at Latham guided HPP on tax matters.

That deal, for three studios and five office properties, had been rumored earlier in June, and remains pending. Netflix Inc. is a major tenant at the studios.

The eighth largest deal of the quarter, meanwhile, was Veidekke ASA's $798 million sale of Norwegian real estate firm Veidekke Eiendom AS to a venture of Olso developer Fredensborg AS, Norwegian Property ASA and Oslo real estate firm Union Group AS.

Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS' Even Bratsberg and Hans Haugstad assisted the buyers with the purchase and Vinge also counseled the buyers.

Veidekke Eiendom had 15,500 residential units across Norway and Sweden as of the end of 2019, and also had 1,557 apartment units under construction as of the end of the year. Fredensborg and Norwegian Property will each own 42.5% of Veidekke Eiendom while Union Group will own 15%.

Sell-side counsel information for the deal, which was announced on June 16 and is still pending, was not immediately available.

Meanwhile, the penultimate deal on the Top 10 list was China developer Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd.'s $715 million purchase of Sinotruk Group Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. from China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Corp.

The companies announced that deal on April 26, and the matter remains pending.

And rounding out the 10 largest deals of the quarter was Abu Dhabi-based National Central Cooling Co. PJSC's $675 million purchase of an 80% stake in Emaar Properties PJSC's downtown Dubai district cooling business from Emaar Properties PJSC.

The companies signed and closed that deal on April 6.

Counsel information for the final two deals on the list was not immediately available.

--Editing by Alyssa Miller.

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