Marriott signed a purchase and sale agreement with CTF Holdings Ltd to purchase all the properties, including the Courtyard by Marriott Parramatta and the Courtyard by Marriott Surfers Paradise in Australia. Head of the Hotels and Tourism practice group, John Stawyskyj led the BDW team on the due diligence in relation to the Australian properties, which included a very complex title structure for Surfers Paradise property.

He said the transaction, which involved hotels in eight different jurisdictions, included the most complex purchase and sale agreement he has been involved in. Adding to the complexity was the fact that in some jurisdictions Marriott was buying real estate, in some it was buying corporate entities and in others taking on long-term leases. The team was working on the deal for seven to eight weeks, a “very short time frame for an extremely complicated transaction”.

The BDW team reviewed the purchase and sale agreement from an Australian law perspective, provided tax and structuring advice and title opinions to Marriott’s title insurers and drafted the documentation required for completion of the Australian component of the transaction. Stawyskyj said the transaction was very significant for Marriott, “not only for its size, but also because of the business benefits and opportunities for growth that it provides”.

BDW lawyers from across key practice areas in three states worked on the transaction, including Karen Donner, Peter McMahon, Tom Sansom, Angela Brewer, Jean Moore, Selina Ngo and Anna Whitehead in Sydney, Susan Green, Susan Jacob and Peter Rowell in Brisbane and Michelle Bennett in Melbourne.