OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank CIB is announcing the closure of a deal whereby O1 Properties has acquired the White Square business center from a consortium between developer AIG/Lincoln, Russian investment bank VTB Capital and global private investment firm TPG Holdings. Under the transaction, Sberbank CIB1 provided financial advisory to O1 Properties and arranged the financing2 for the latter’s acquisition of the White Square business center. At the same time, Sberbank Merchant Banking3 acquired a 33% stake in the project company in the form of convertible preferred shares.

The transaction was prepared by the Sberbank CIB joint team, which included the Real Estate Finance Division, Client Managers Division of the Department of Corporate Clients, Investment Banking Department and Sberbank Merchant Banking. Financial advisory services were provided by Sberbank CIB’s Investment Banking Department. The deal was the largest M&A transaction in the Russian real estate market in 2012.

The global law firms Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance provided legal support to 01 Properties on the deal and the global law firm Herbert Smith provided legal support to Sberbank CIB.

The White Square business center, which totals 76,542 sq. meters, is one of the largest business centers in Moscow. Its tenants include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, McKinsey, Microsoft and other companies.

O1 Properties is one of the largest owners of high quality (A and B+/B class) office properties in Moscow. The company owns and manages a portfolio of ten fully-functioning business centres (with a total leasable area of 426,000 sq. m) in the key business districts of the Russian capital. In addition, the Company owns a development project that accounts for less than 1% of the market value of O1 Properties’ portfolio. According to a Valuation Report compiled by Cushman & Wakefield, the market value of the Company’s assets as of December 31, 2012 was USD 3.7 bln.