Trowers & Hamlins

Trowers & Hamlins LLP, the City and International law firm, has advised leading UK-based Islamic Institution, Gatehouse Bank plc (Gatehouse), on the leveraged acquisition of the UK headquarters of Procter & Gamble, from Prupim for £31.55 million.  Allowing for purchaser’s costs, the acquisition reflects a net initial yield of 8.00% and was partially financed by £19.71m of Shari'ah compliant funding using a commodity murabaha structure.

This is first acquisition by Gatehouse's real estate team, which originated, advised and funded the investment for a syndicate of private clients from the GCC region.

The Procter & Gamble headquarters is a 109,290 sq. ft. Grade A office and conference facility constructed in 1995 on The Heights, Weybridge, Surrey, one of the most prominent office parks in the south east of England.  The property is let in its entirety to Procter & Gamble, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, until June 2020 providing over ten years of term certain income.  

Gatehouse is a public limited company which was incorporated in the UK in 2007. Gatehouse is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Securities House of Kuwait. It is regulated by the Financial Services Authority to act as a deposit taking banking entity operating within the UK regulatory environment and operates as a Shari'ah-compliant wholesale investment bank based in the City of London.

Jeremy Joiner, Property partner, Trowers & Hamlins LLP, commented:

“Trowers & Hamlins is delighted to have acted for established client Gatehouse on its first significant UK real estate acquisition in this important stage of its development.  We look forward to working with Gatehouse on more acquisitions in the future.”

The Trowers & Hamlins team was led by Property partner Jeremy Joiner. The Corporate team was led by Tony Poole, assisted by Nick Green. The Banking and Finance team was led by Sarah Gooden assisted by Sarah MacLachlan.