He also handles international legal matters relating to the Middle East and emerging markets.

Usman has been described as “highly commercial and enjoyable to work with!” and is “highly responsive and surprisingly relaxed, irrespective of time pressures” by Legal 500.

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• Advised Partners Group on the financing of its acquisition of a 140,000sqm portfolio of 19 Finnish logistics assets from Mandatum Asset Management*
• Advised TPG Real Estate on the c.€300m senior and mezzanine financing of its Physicus (German and Dutch) life sciences platform, the senior portion of which was securitised in the Vita Scientia 2022-1 DAC offering*
• Advised a European investment fund on its first real estate financing transaction relating to the refinancing of its Dutch portfolio*
• Advised Starwood Capital Group on numerous of its financings including:*

– the refinancing of its €80m Irish portfolio;

– the refinancing of its £200m industrial properties portfolio located across the UK;

– its senior and mezzanine facilities to acquire a Finnish rental residential portfolio of approximately 2,200 units in partnership with Avara Oy from a consortium of Finnish vendors. The portfolio consists of 73 assets located in 15 cities, with 50% of the portfolio value in the Helsinki region;

– its circa. €200m acquisition financing of the Las Mercedes business park in Madrid, Spain;

– its €320m senior and mezzanine refinancing of its Spanish portfolio;

– its £250m refinancing of its hotel portfolio; and

– the financing aspects of its over US$1bn disposal of a portfolio of 14 UK hotels that form part of The Principal Hotel Company to Foncière des Régions

• Advised Crosstree Real Estate Partners on its £100m development finance facility for the redevelopment of Camden Town Hall*
• Advised on a joint venture between UK-based Benson Elliot and US-based Walton Street Capital on a pan-European €420m hotel portfolio acquisition financing*
• Advised Oaktree Capital in relation to an acquisition finance transaction acquiring commercial property across the UK*
• Advised Starwood Capital Group financing AJ Capital Partners’ acquisition of the Macdonald Randolph Hotel in Oxford, England and the Macdonald Hotels & Resorts portfolio in St Andrews, Scotland*
• Advised Investec Bank plc on its development facility in relation to luxury residential accommodation in Leinster Square, London*
• Advised Aareal Bank AG on its £149m financing of Valesco and AIP Asset Management’s purchase of Cannon Bridge House, London*
• Advised Investec Bank plc on its £72m development facility to The LabTech Group to fund the mixed-use scheme located on Camley Street, King’s Cross, London*
• Advised Starwood European Finance Partners Limited on its €110m acquisition and redevelopment facilities relating to Ikos Andalusia, a 400-key, luxury seafront resort in Andalusia’s coastal area of Estepona, Spain with HFF Real Estate Limited on behalf of Ikos International as borrower, with Oaktree and Goldman Sachs as sponsors*
• Advised Starwood European Real Estate Finance on its €68.5m senior facility for the acquisition of various light industrial logistics parks across Europe by M7 Central European Real Estate Fund I*
• Advised Aareal Bank on its £109.5m facility for the acquisition of the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Tower Hill by Westmont*
• Advised Starwood Capital Group as lender on the financing of a tier one sponsor’ circa US$3bn acquisition of a holiday park and hotel portfolio*
• Advised a major Chinese alternative asset management firm on a leverage finance transaction as borrower on a US$450m senior syndicated facility and US$400m junior syndicated facility*
• Advised arrangers, sponsors and underwriters, including CDH Investments, Credit Suisse AG, Elm Park Capital Management, RBC Capital Markets, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, THL Corporate Finance, and Wells Fargo, on various leveraged, acquisition, and secured lending financing matters*
• Advised RBC Capital Markets on its US$525m facility for the acquisition of the entertainment division of Iconix Brand Group, Inc. by DHX Media*
• Advised a US hedge fund as lender on its first loan origination in Europe*
• Advised Dubai Islamic Bank as lender on a AED1.5bn Shariah-compliant facility to a Dubai government-related entity*
• Advised Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank as lender on a AED216m hybrid bond/facility Islamic financing*
• Advised The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector as arranger on sukuk issuances for the governments of Ivory Coast (Phase II) and the Togolese Republic*
• Advised an Emirati bank as lender on a $200m murabaha sovereign financing*
• Advised ICD-Brookfield in relation to a AED1.5bn mixed conventional and Shariah compliant financing relating to the construction of a Tier 1 business and leisure complex in the heart of the Dubai International Financial Centre.
• Advised Aareal Bank as lender in relation to a Shariah compliant facility for the acquisition of a pan-European commercial property portfolio*
• Advised various financial institutions, including Barclays Bank Plc, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A., Starwood Capital Group and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., London Branch, on repo loan and loan-on-loan transactions*

*Matter handled prior to joining McDermott

 

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