Corporate Real Estate

Teacher Stern has a respected corporate real estate practice that is regularly involved in landmark property deals in the London market.

In addition to advising on joint ventures for clients involved in property investment and development, our specialist team also advises on high value transactions involving the acquisition and disposal of both commercial and residential property. Many of these transactions have multi-jurisdictional elements arising from the use of complex corporate wrappers involving offshore companies and property unit trusts.

We know that understanding and addressing the technicalities of a transaction, whilst at the same time bearing in mind the client’s principal objective of buying or selling the underlying real estate asset, is key to completing a successful deal. That’s why we combine the knowledge and expertise of our corporate real estate team with that of our real estate, banking & finance and tax teams to provide a complete service to our corporate real estate clients.

Our clients include UK and offshore family offices, trustees of high value offshore settlements, large property investment companies, property developers and investors.

Representative Corporate Real Estate Work

Examples of our team’s corporate real estate work include:

  • Advised on the acquisition and disposal of various shopping centres across the UK; including the sale of two high value malls situated at London Underground stations for a combined value of £270m.
  • Advised on a £430m acquisition of a mixture of offshore and onshore companies owning 180 petrol stations and advised on the sale thereof three years later to a global petroleum company.
  • Advised a well-known family office on the £30m sale of a prestige office building in the City of London via the sale of shares in a Jersey property unit trust.
  • Advised on the £29m sale of a landmark London hotel held by an offshore trust.
  • Advised on the acquisition of a number of hotels and hostels in central and greater London for an offshore family office.
  • Advised a well-known family trust on the £18m acquisition of a prime residential property located in Mayfair from a Swiss family trust.
  • Advised overseas investors on the purchase of offshore SPVs holding high value residential properties in London with values ranging from £3m to over £20m.

Key contacts:

Photo of David Salisbury

David Salisbury

Partner Corporate and Commercial
Work 37-41 Bedford Row London WC1R 4JH United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7611 2394

Biography

As head of the firm’s corporate and commercial practice, David’s broad transactional experience includes acquisitions, disposals, take-overs and mergers, asset sales/purchases, joint ventures and company restructuring. He also advises clients on a range of corporate and commercial matters, including company/partnership formation, partnership/shareholders agreements and employment issues.

David has particular experience in the field of sport, acting amongst others for prospective purchasers of Premiership and Football League clubs in takeovers. He is also at the forefront of the development in England of the investment in and transfer of the economic rights of sportsmen and women.

For property investor clients, he has particular expertise in the disposal and acquisition of corporate and similar structures which assist in mitigating stamp duty land tax.

David was listed as a ‘leading individual’ in the Legal 500 2020 rankings. He was also listed as a recommended lawyer in the 2024 rankings.

Representative Experience

David has experience:

  • Acting for investors in the economic rights of football players playing in the Premier League and the top divisions in other European Countries as well as in South America. Over the years, David has been involved in providing advice connected with the transfers, economic rights participation and/or playing rights of various Premier League and foreign based players including Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano, Jo, Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Fabiano and Heurelho Gomes to name but a few. More recently David has provided advice in relation to the following players: Paulhino (Tottenham) Willian (Chelsea), Oscar (Chelsea) and Carlos Tevez (Juventus).
  • Advising on a £430 million acquisition of a mixture of offshore and onshore companies owning 180 petrol stations and advising on the sale thereof three years later.
  • Acting on a series joint ventures for a leading UK celebrity magazine and newspaper publisher with a combined value in excess of £280m.
  • Acting for the prospective purchasers in their takeover of a Premier League Football Club.
  • Advising on the £166 million sale of a group of companies with an industrial portfolio.
  • Acting on the acquisition and financing of 545 public houses, worth £163 million.
  • Advising on the £25 million sale to a UK plc of a leading UK independent internet service provider.
  • Advising the founders and owners of a high end chain of London coffee shops on the sale, earn out and rollover of the owners’ differing interests in the business to a well known industry leading private equity firm.
  • Advising the owners of a mining public relations agency on the sale of the worldwide operations to a UK quoted company.

Testimonials 

‘David Salisbury is extremely personable, has an acute commercial sense and instils every confidence that he will provide sound reasoned advice with his clients best interests and not there to score points with the other side.’
Legal 500

Year qualified

Solicitor, 1992

Career History

Partner, Teacher Stern