Onninen Distribution Warehouse, Oslo, Norway, NOK433,000,000 acquisition

Bedell Cristin acted for 90 North Real Estate Partners LLP (and its associated investors) and certain Middle Eastern investors in relation to the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of a Norwegian company which owns the Onninen A.S. headquarters and key distribution centre in Olso for NOK433,000,000. The funding for the acquisition of the Norwegian real estate was provided by way of a combination of conventional bond financing and Sharia-compliant financing. Bedell Cristin, lead by Simon Hopwood (Partner), Stephen Ferguson (Senior Associate) and Emily Nieuwburg (Associate), assisted with the Jersey aspects of the establishment of a Sharia-compliant investment structure which included a Jersey limited partnership (similar to a form of mudaraba), the financing arrangements which involved a tawarruq (reverse or monetising commodity murabaha), the listing of certain loan notes on the Channel Islands Securities Exchange and the share acquisition.