Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Oak Hill Advisors (“OHA”) on its acquisition of a portfolio of over 110,000 containers from Aves One AG (“Aves One”). The portfolio is valued at c. US$182.5m and the structure involved both asset and debt elements between the parties.
OHA has approximately US$51bn of capital under management, with over 30 years of experience investing in a variety of asset classes, including performing and non-performing corporate credit, real estate, shipping, aviation and structured products as well as private equity. Aves One, listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt stock exchange, is a leading asset owner of durable rail assets in the European freight market with a modern and profitable freight wagon portfolio.
The multidisciplinary, cross-border WFW team that advised OHA’s London team was led by London Partner George Macheras, supported by Senior Associate Georg Junginger and Associates Tanpreet Rooprai and Ella Vries. Partner Mehraab Nazir and Associate Maria Bun ran the underlying bank financing arrangements. Partner Rob McBride and Associate Lydia Jones provided hedging advice and tax aspects were handled by Partner Richard Stephens. German Partners Maren Brandes and Christine Bader advised on the German and regulatory law aspects of the transaction respectively.
George commented: “We are delighted to have advised OHA on a substantial portfolio acquisition in a very topical market. This is another example of WFW being able to assist clients with complex deals across all segments of the global transportation industry”.
Dentons Europe LLP (Thomas Strassner and Michael Singer) advised Aves One.
