Leyson Property Fund No. 3 took over Blue Tower Trust, to form Australian Property Growth Fund with assets totalling $335 million.

The new entity’s flagship asset is Comalco Place, one of Brisbane’s most successful CBD commercial office buildings.

The transaction also included a two for one entitlement issue of stapled securities in the Fund, which has so far raised $50 million.

Senior associate Kristan Butler, who led the deal team, said the concurrent deals produced some unique legal, tax, commercial and timing issues.

“We wanted to make [the structure] tax effective for the people who were divesting into the new fund,” she said.

“And it was a scrip offer … so the other complicating fact was that we had one property trust, and we had a stapled fund, which is a company and a trust stapled together, and we took over the trust,” she said.

“So we had to consider the tax implications of the fact that we were taking over something that was just a trust, and we were giving scrip and we needed to ensure that they didn’t pay more tax than they needed to.”

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Butler said her team “worked incredibly hard” to finish the deal in three months.

As well as Butler, the team included partner Tony Stumm and consultant Professor Paul von Nessen, who assisted with structuring issues.