Real Estate Finance
Our Real Estate Finance team is acknowledged by independent commentators (including the Legal 500) as one of the leading real estate finance practices in London. The team acts for many of the largest banks in the City as well as for mezzanine lenders, short term lenders, developers, investors, investment funds and a variety of other borrowers.
By acting for both borrowers and lenders, we have an in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of the requirements of both our lending and borrowing clients. This enables us to provide timely commercial advice to our clients, which is essential to ensuring that deals get done.
Our experience and expertise in real estate finance and security is extensive. We regularly advise on the financing of a broad selection of Real Estate assets including offices, shopping centres, retail units, hotels, leisure centres and residential properties. Our work ranges from plain vanilla real estate lending and borrowing to highly complex tax-based structured finance with offshore elements.
We are well regarded in the London market for our expertise in diligently preparing, advising on and negotiating finance documentation relating to real estate development and investment.
The Real Estate Finance team is complimented by lawyers from our well-established Real Estate, Construction, Corporate and Tax teams which work together to provide a seamless full service to our clients.
Representative Real Estate Finance Work
Examples of our team’s real estate finance work include:
- Advised a Luxembourg fund in relation to a £15.75m loan facility advanced to a Jersey based borrower which was secured on a property in Mayfair.
- Advised the junior lender in relation to a £18.2m joint venture loan arrangement with Investec Bank plc which was secured on a development property located in SW1.
- Advised a borrower in relation to a development term loan facility of £55m and an investment term facility of £6.25m secured in connection with the development of 120 residential units with commercial space on the ground floor.
- Advised a Cypriot borrower company with a Guernsey subsidiary company in connection with an amendment and restatement of a loan agreement with Barclays Bank Plc to increase the loan amount by £20m and add additional UK property assets to the package of security.
- Advised two lenders in relation to their participation in a £13m loan in which Investec Bank plc was the lender of origin. The loan was secured on a development site in Soho.
- Advised a household name in relation to a £60m loan facility from Lloyds Bank plc which was secured over 70 properties.
- Advised a lender in relation to a £24.2m loan facility secured by way of legal mortgages over properties in South London.
Key contacts:
Biography
Phil joined Teacher Stern as a trainee in 1980 and is head of the Legal 500 ranked real estate finance team. He is an expert in real estate finance with heavyweight experience in acting for a spectrum of lenders and borrowers.
He is very well regarded by his clients for providing sound commercial advice as well as having the technical knowhow. Clients have commented that he is “business orientated and pragmatic”. Phil is very proactive in driving deals towards closing and identifying complex issues, which have the potential to delay or even break the deal, at an early stage and finding solutions to overcome them.
Phil is listed as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 2021, 2024 and 2025 rankings.
Representative Experience
Phil has:
An expert in property finance, Phil acts for banks and building societies on commercial property matters and both advises on, and drafts, security documentation.
- £430 million acquisition of a mixture of offshore and onshore companies owning 180 Shell petrol stations
- £101 million sale of a City building via JPUT
- Refinancing of shops and offices in Kensington, London to the value of £97 million
- £37 million acquisition of an industrial portfolio via four JPUTs
- Purchase of 42 snooker clubs via JPUT, worth £30 million
Testimonials
Legal 500 2024
‘Phil Berry and Claire Gibson both offer a wealth of knowledge in their field. Clients are central to the team’s work ethos, and they are undoubtedly people you want to have in your corner.
Legal 500
‘Phil Berry has years of experience, making him the type of lawyer you always want in your corner.’
Year qualified
Solicitor, 1980
