Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Stoneweg, a Geneva-headquartered multi-strategy real estate advisor and asset manager, and its strategic shareholder Icona Capital, on Stoneweg’s agreement to acquire Cromwell Property Group’s European management business, with a total of €3.9 billion of real estate assets under management.

The proposed acquisition includes Cromwell’s approximately 28% interest in Singapore Exchange listed CEREIT, amongst other management mandates. With the combined platform expected to continue to operate as Stoneweg, the enlarged group will manage approximately €8 billion of assets, providing equity and debt investment and development expertise in the residential, light industrial, logistics, hospitality, office, and cultural and leisure sectors across 15 European countries.

Speaking on the transaction, partners Tom Lin and Benjamin de Blegiers said: “This transaction represents an exciting new chapter and milestone for Stoneweg and Icona Capital, coming at an inflexion point in the investment cycle. We are absolutely delighted to bring our multi-jurisdictional and deep cross-practice teams to help deliver the result, and wish to congratulate our clients and the enlarged platform the very best for the next phase of growth.”

The core team comprised partner Tom Lin, counsel Ivan Chan, senior associates David Ho and Wesley Tan, associate John Wu, trainee Lia Tay and senior legal project manager Debby Ratnasari. The cross-border and cross-practice team advising on the transaction also comprised:

• Tax: Partners Jemma Dick and Edward Page and senior associate Kirsten Hunt (all London);
• Real estate: Partner Alis Pay, senior associate Matthew Thomson and associate Alex Pennington (all London) with support from a multi-jurisdictional team across Clifford Chance’s UK and European network;
• Regulatory: Partners Simon Crown (London), Lena Ng (Singapore) and Oliver Zwick (Luxembourg), counsel Luke Chen and Ying Chiang Chong (Singapore), senior associates Charlotte Chopping (London), Charlotte Tan (Singapore), Anne-Lise Vandevoir and Isadora Rousselle (Luxembourg) and associates Audrina Keng (Singapore) and Federico Lombardi (Luxembourg);
• Employment, pensions and incentives: Partners Alastair Windass, Andrew Patterson and Clare Hoxey, director David Baxter, senior associates Florence Wong and Rebecca Trapp, and associate Amber Mullins (all London);
• Transitional services and IP: Partner Ling Ho, counsel Brian Harley, senior associate Charmaine Kwong, associate Sharon Zhang and trainee Natalie Tse (all Hong Kong); and
• Antitrust: Partner Richard Blewett and associate Zala Majhenič (both Brussels).

Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.