Deal: Lend Lease’s successful tender to develop Sydney’s Barangaroo South, Australia’s largest urban renewal project since Olympic Park and the Sydney Olympics in 2000  

Area: Corporate

Value: $6 billion

Key players: The Freehills legal team included senior projects partner Murray Dearberg and funds M&A expert Justin O’Farrell (pictured), who oversaw the establishment of the investment vehicles, as well as partners Julie Couch, Greg Hing, Justin Pelly, Melita Cottrell and Rob de Boer.

Deal significance: Freehills advised Lend on the bid, project agreements and successful launch of a new wholesale property trust, securing $2 billion of equity funding from major institutional on-shore and off-shore investors and Lend Lease itself. The legal team also advised on subdivision and long-term titling of the site and multiple 99-year ground leases to facilitate the development and project agreements. The $6 billion Barangaroo South development, on the western foreshores of the Sydney CBD, will supply 40 per cent of the forecast demand for prime Sydney office space over the next 10 years. It will deliver prime office space for 23,000 workers, 800 residential apartments, and dedicated public space, with a 2.2-kilometre new public foreshore walk. The development also aims to achieve a six-star green building rating for its commercial towers.

“Lend Lease’s commitment to sustainability and urban planning helped it secure one of the largest urban renewal projects we’ll see in the Australian market for the next 20 years,” said Dearberg.

Justin O’Farrell said the project was “huge and world class”.

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“Lend Lease has once again demonstrated its leading position in the wholesale market, securing a partner of the calibre of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The new vehicle also delivers significant pipeline opportunity to Lend Lease’s existing stable of institutional investors. $2bn in equity is no small raising,” said O’Farrell.