Alternative Investments

Today, alternative investments have become an integral part of institutional investor portfolios. In the current low-interest environment, there is high demand for illiquid assets such as real estate, private equity, private debt, loan portfolios, energy and infrastructure investments, ships and aircraft.

We provide comprehensive advice in this field from initial structural plans right up to exit. Our Alternative Investments Group pools all the necessary expertise and supports you in your investments on a global scale, be it foreign investments in German assets or supporting German investors in other countries.

Our scope of advice includes in particular:

asset expertise and market intelligence in all fields
advice on regulatory, tax and corporate law aspects (on the investment itself, as well as on fund structuring and documentation)
banking law advice on structuring the various financing products, loan documentation or syndication options relating to loan funds in the interests of lightening your balance sheet
due diligence
end-to-end transaction advice on buying and selling via share deals or asset deals
capital-market transactions, e.g. securitisations or investments in stock exchange-listed alternative assets
additional advice on specialist areas as necessary, e.g. employment law, antitrust law or IP

Our clients include infrastructure funds and private equity funds, asset managers, banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds, as well as companies and corporate groups whose activities focus on alternative assets.

Our German Alternative Investments Group comprises lawyers from all the relevant legal fields: financing, regulatory law, M&A, project financing, energy & infrastructure, tax law, capital markets law, real estate law, real estate financing and public law and is part of our global Alternative Investments Group.

Explore our services

Highlight Deals

Cerberus
Viridium Group
IGIS Asset Management and Hana Financial Investment
IONITY
Oak Hill Advisors and Värde Partners
Equitix
The financing banks
DEME Group
Commerzbank

Cerberus

on the takeover of HSH Nordbank. As part of the acquisition a portfolio of the bank’s non-performing loans, including shipping and real estate portfolios, with a nominal value of several billion euros were sold to independent investors. This deal marks the first successful privatisation of a German state bank.

Viridium Group

on the EUR2.5bn sale of the so-called "Millennium Portfolio" of Generali Lebensversicherung AG to Commerz Real. It has been the largest real estate transaction in Germany for the last 10 years. The Portfolio comprises 26 office, 14 residential and 9 retail properties with a total rental space of more than 352,000 square meters in premium locations of the top 7 cities in Germany: Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart as well as Leipzig and Unterhaching.

IGIS Asset Management and Hana Financial Investment

on the acquisition and the financing of the acquisition of the Trianon skyscraper in Frankfurt from US investor North Star. (Volume: approx. 400-500m)

IONITY

– a joint venture between Daimler, Ford, BMW and the Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche – on the framework agreement to install high power-chargers for electric cars at Eni service stations.

Oak Hill Advisors and Värde Partners

on their acquisition of a USD1bn portfolio of shipping loans from Deutsche Bank.

Equitix

on its acquisition of a portfolio of PFI/PPP and renewables assets (onshore and solar) owned by NIBC in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

The financing banks

in connection with the acquisition of Autobahn Tank & Rast Holding GmbH by a consortium led by the infrastructure arm of Munich-based financial group Allianz of Terra Firma Capital Partners and a fund managed by Deutsche Asset und Wealth Management.

DEME Group

on the EUR 1.6bn acquisition, construction and financing of the Merkur offshore wind farm. – Renewables Deal of the Year – PFI AWARDS 2016; European Offshore Wind Award 2016 – IJ Global 2017

Commerzbank

on a Japanese operating lease transaction including a call option (JOLCO) with Deutsche Lufthansa AG in respect of two Airbus A320-214 aircraft registered in Germany.

News & insights

Publications: 02 APRIL 2020

Real estate and Covid-19 coronavirus - the questions we are being asked in Germany

This note discusses a number of issues and queries that are arising in the commercial real estate investing and lending markets in Germany as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Publications: 27 MARCH 2020

Covid-19 coronavirus: Covid-19-Act and impact on real estate leases

Massive economic effects of Covid-19 on the real estate sector, in particular, on lease agreements.

Publications: 27 MARCH 2020

Covid-19 coronavirus: The Covid-19 Act and its impact on real estate financings in Germany

On 27 March 2020 the parliament adopted the Covid-19 Act. This act enacts various economic support measures for entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, other small, medium-sized and large enterprises and banks. In terms of civil law, the Covid-19 Act, which will take the form of an omnibus act, introduces changes to contractual law in the field of leases and loans which are to be made in article 240 of the Introductory Act to the German Civil Code (Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch).

News: 09 JANUARY 2020

Allen & Overy advises Japanese banking syndicate on the financing of seven Airbus aircraft for Lufthansa

Allen & Overy advised two leading Japanese banks in connection with a Japanese operating lease transaction including a call option (JOLCO). The transaction serves to finance seven Airbus aircraft for Deutsche Lufthansa AG, including two A350-941 and five A320-271N aircraft. The total volume amounted to approximately USD 530 million.