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Partha S. Pal is a shareholder in the London office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, qualified to practice in England and Wales. His main area of practice is real estate finance, where he has more than 20 years experience of a wide variety of transactions, in both the lending and the structured debt capital markets, acting for both providers and users of leverage.

The Legal 500 UK 2024 guide recognises Mr. Pal as a Leading Individual in relation to real estate finance. The directory quotes a source as saying “Partha Pal is undoubtedly one of the best banking/structured finance lawyers in London. Excellent qualifications, industry knowledge, commercial, efficient and superior client service.” Other commentators note that he is “a highly attentive and diligent partner that leads all parties through a transaction. He will find solutions to commercial problems and ensures lender’s interests are protected.”

Sources are equally positive about the team led by Mr. Pal, saying “the GT Team are well resourced, which results in a high level of attention and coverage throughout the transaction. They are able to bring in experienced subject-matter experts as necessary to address concerns which may arise on any deal, and will work to tight deadlines when needed. We have a great amount of trust in their ability to be pragmatic and deliver commercial solutions to get a deal over the line.”

Mr. Pal has experience of financing transactions in respect of all major commercial real estate asset types including assets which involve active operation such as student accommodation, common work spaces, petrol stations, data centres, hotels and private rented sector/build to rent assets (PRS/BTR). In addition, he has considerable experience of loan-on-loan financing and loan repo arrangements as well as sophisticated capital markets products relating to commercial real estate, particularly commercial mortgage backed securities and real estate related non-performing loan securitisations. He also advises regularly on regulatory matters relating to investments in securitised products, particularly in relation to risk-retention considerations. In his career, Mr. Pal has led the execution of real estate finance transactions involving assets in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Korea and Hong Kong. He has practiced in England, New York and Singapore.

Mr. Pal has served as a co-chair of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council Sub Committees on hedging and on the financing of the PRS/BTR sector. In respect of the latter, he played a significant role in authorising CREFC's report.

Concentrations

  • Commercial real estate finance (lender and borrower representations; whole loan, senior loan and mezzanine loans; investment finance and construction finance; distressed and rescue financings)
  • Cash-flow and synthetic commercial mortgage backed securities
  • Commercial real estate loan sales
  • Commercial real estate loan-related whole sale financing arrangements
  • Non-performing loan sales and securitisations
  • Fund financings relating to commercial real estate funds
  • Related financial restructuring and regulatory matters

Kompetencje

Doświadczenie

  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the provision of a credit facility in the amount of £150,000,000 to finance the development of a portfolio of PRS/BTR assets in the UK.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the financing of an office building in the City of London with a whole loan in an amount of approximately £ 200 million.°
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the provision of a Euro 200,000,000 credit facility to finance the acquisition and development of a portfolio of PRS/BTR assets in Ireland for a leading PRS/BTR operator and developer.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the provision of a Euro 100,000,000 credit facility to finance the acquisition and development of a single PRS/BTR asset in Ireland for a leading global sponsor.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the provision of a £135,000,000 credit facility to finance the acquisition and development of a combined hotel and office asset in the Shoreditch area of London.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the provision of a Euro 95,000,000 credit facility to refinance a PRS/BTR asset in Ireland for a leading global sponsor.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. insurance company) in the financing of a private rented sector asset in Manchester with a whole loan in an amount of approximately £ 26 million.°
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in the financing of a portfolio of shared workspace assets in London (a combination of stabilised and development assets) in an amount of approximately £150 million.
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in the financing of a portfolio of petrol service station in an amount of £26 million.°
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. hedge fund) in the provision of a £77,000,000 mezzanine financing in respect of a portfolio of four hotels in London, two of which were stabilised and two of which are in the process of development, with additional security being provided by other assets. Senior debt was provided by a variety of lenders, with intercreditor agreements being entered into with each of them.
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in the provision of a £26,000,000 junior financing in respect of a portfolio of three office assets in London, with senior financing being provided by a leading German bank.
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in the provision of a £20,000,000 junior financing in respect of a single office asset in London, with senior financing being provided by a leading German bank.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. hedge fund) in the provision of a Euro 35,000,000 mezzanine facility in respect of seven separate multi family portfolios in Germany with senior financing provided by a number of German banks.
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in the provision of a £25,000,000 mezzanine facility in respect of a portfolio of common work spaces with senior financing provided by a different debt fund.
  • Acted for the lender (a leading U.S. hedge fund) in the provision of a Euro 30,000,000 mezzanine facility in respect of a portfolio of self-storage assets in Germany.
  • Acted for the sponsor in relation to the financing of a portfolio of logistics assets in the UK with financing, in an amount of £150,000,000 provided by a non-bank lender.
  • Acted for the capital partner (in a joint venture with an operating partner) in relation to the financing of a senior living development in London in an amount of £100 million.°
  • Acted for the sponsor in relation to the financing of the acquisition of an office building in the City of London in an amount of £95 million.°
  • Acted for the sponsor in relation to the financing of the acquisition of an office building in the City of London in an amount of £55 million.°
  • Acted for the capital partner (in a joint venture with an operating partner) in relation to the financing of the acquisition of a data centre in the Netherlands.°
  • Acted for the sponsor in the refinancing of a portfolio of 24 commercial real estate assets in the UK through a combination of a senior loan (provided by a UK insurance company lender) and a mezzanine loan (provided by a Luxembourg debt fund).°
  • Acted for the sponsor in the development and financing of one of the world's largest data centres in the Netherlands with a financing package of €400 million provided by a leading investment bank.°
  • Acted for the capital partner (in a joint venture with an operating partner) in relation to the financing of a Grade A office development in Paris in an amount of €130 million.°
  • Acted for an investor in a notes issued in a CMBS transaction in relation to the work out of the last remaining loan.
  • Acted for the sponsor, the credit arm of a leading private equity house in the acquisition and financing of a portfolio of Spanish non-performing loans secured on commercial and residential real estate. The financing was structured as a securitisation in an amount of approximately €30 million.°
  • Acted for the sponsor, the credit arm of a leading private equity house in the acquisition and financing of a portfolio of Spanish non-performing loans secured on commercial and residential real estate. The financing was structured as a securitisation, in an amount of approximately €72 million.°
  • Acted for the sponsor, the credit arm of a leading private equity house in the acquisition and financing of a portfolio of Spanish non-performing loans secured on commercial and residential real estate. The financing was structured as a securitisation, in an amount of approximately €50 million.°
  • Acted for the credit arm of a leading private equity house in providing an approximately Euro 1 billion credit facility to part finance the acquisition of a Spanish NPL portfolio involving the repackaging of the loan into notes and a repurchase agreement in relation to the notes.°
  • Acted for the lender (a Luxembourg debt fund) in providing a loan-on-loan financing to another lender who provided loans to small and medium sized UK real estate developers.°
  • Acted for a leading Spanish bank in the provision of a Euro 100,000,000 loan on loan financing to a leading non bank lender in relation to a portfolio of hotel assets in Spain.
  • Acted for the arrangers in more than 30 CMBS and CRE CDO 1.0 transactions including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Credit Agricole. These included first of a kind transactions such as the financing of the BBC's landmark building in London, the first ever pan-European CMBS transaction and the first ever combined cash flow and synthetic pan-European CMBS transaction.°
  • Acted for the sponsor in a £ 70 million commercial mortgage backed securities offering relating to a shopping centre in Swindon. The transaction involved the refinancing of a loan that was held in an existing commercial mortgage backed securities offering.°
  • Acted for the Borrower in the discounted pay off and subsequent refinancing of a loan backed by a portfolio of commercial real estate assets held within a CMBS transaction.°
  • Acted for various CMBS servicers and special servicers in respect of CMBS restructurings following the global financed crisis.°
  • Acted for a significant limited partner in a real estate fund in a leveraged recapitalisation arranged by the general partner, resulting in a distribution to the limited partners and altered control rights in respect of the capital structure.°
  • Acted for an investment fund in leveraging its investment in the shares of three real estate investment trusts through a margin loan in excess of €100 million.°

°The above representations were handled by Mr. Pal prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

Sukcesy i wyróżnienia

  • Team Member, PERE Global Awards, Law Firm of the Year: Fund Formation in Europe, 2018 
  • Leading Individual, The Legal 500 UK "Property Finance," 2023-2024
  • Listed, The Legal 500 UK, 2015-2022 
    • Property Finance, 2015-2022
    • Securitisation, 2016-2018
    • Structured Products, 2018
    • Derivatives, 2018
    • Emerging Markets Finance, 2015
  • Commercial Real Estate Finance Council in Europe
  • Co-Chair, Hedging Working Group, 2007-2018
  • Co-Chair, Private Rented Sector Finance working group

Kwalifikacje

Wykształcenie
  • LL.M., (Distinction), Georgetown University Law Center
  • B.A. (Hons), Law, University of Cambridge
  • M.A., University of Cambridge
  • Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law
Posiadane uprawnienia
  • Anglia i Walia
Znajomość języków
  • Bengali, biegły
  • Hindi, Basic Conversation