A market leader across real estate financing transactions and highly skilled in handling complex financings, Simpson Thacher’s Real Estate Finance team represents both borrowers and lenders in all aspects of real estate financing matters. Our team delivers commercial and strategic advice to clients across the industry.
With over 100 dedicated Real Estate lawyers across our New York, London, and Hong Kong offices, including over 20 partners globally, our team offers unmatched support in real estate finance matters. We are also positioned to provide an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on the Firm’s experience in related areas such as Banking and Credit, Alternative Capital and Private Credit, Capital Markets, Fund Finance, Restructuring, Financial Institutions and Securitization.
Having advised on over 250 transactions since 2019, we consistently work on many of the most notable and innovative real estate financings in the market. Our team works with clients of all sizes, handling transactions large and small across the full spectrum of asset classes, including data centers, retail, industrial, hospitality, office and residential properties. Known for our commercial and collaborative approach, we partner with clients to deliver strategic, high-quality advice on their most significant matters.
Practice of the Year
A Real Estate Practice Group of the Year – Law360 (2011, 2013-2019, 2021, 2023)
Sponsor-side Financing: Our Firm represents private equity sponsors, portfolio companies and other sophisticated borrowers in a wide range of real estate finance matters. Our lawyers are at the cutting edge of new developments in the real estate financing market, drive sponsor terms like no other law firm and are involved in almost every high-profile financing innovation across the full range of real estate asset classes. Since 2019, our real estate finance team has represented borrowers in over $200 billion in financings globally.
Lender-side Financing and Private Credit: Our Firm represents institutional lenders of all types and sizes including financial institutions, private equity firms, insurance companies and others in a variety of real estate credit opportunities. Our clients are at the forefront of the real estate financing industry, consistently innovating complex and sophisticated credit transaction structures at all layers of the capital stack to meet the needs of the market.
Comprehensive Real Estate Finance Services: With our extensive breadth and depth of knowledge, we are well-equipped to support both lender and sponsor clients across the full spectrum of real estate financing matters, including:
- Commercial Real Estate (CRE) financing: construction finance/project finance, CMBS, bridge loans, and syndicated balance sheet loans
- Subordinate financing: mezzanine loans; B notes and preferred equity
- Distressed real estate matters: work-outs, restructuring and bankruptcy
- Corporate facilities: term loans, revolvers, hybrid facilities, NAV/holdco facilities and acquisition facilities
- Co-lender, intercreditor and participation arrangements
- Back leverage: warehouse lending, note-on-note and repo facilities
- Loan sales and acquisitions
“Simpson Thacher's
real estate group is able to handle the most sophisticated deal structures
while remaining very commercial.”
– Chambers USA Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance (quoting a client)
Our recent highlights include advising:
- Blackstone in connection with the financing related to its €21 billion recapitalization of Mileway, the largest last-mile logistics portfolio in Europe
- QTS Realty in connection with numerous project finance, real estate, and CMBS financings of hyperscale build-to-suit and stabilized data centers, totaling over $20 billion
- Blackstone in the balance sheet and CMBS financing for its $10 billion take-private of Apartment Income REIT Corp.
- IQ Student Accommodation in connection with multiple financings with over ten co-arrangers, totaling over £3 billion
- Great Wolf Resorts in over $2.5 billion of CMBS financings of Great Wolf Resorts properties
- Blackstone and Hotel Investment Partners (HIP) in over €2.5 billion of refinancings of HIP’s portfolio of high-end hotels in Southern Europe
- Various clients in connection with multiple European CMBS financings, totaling over £1.5 billion in 2024
- April Housing in its $1.3 billion refinancing of its affordable housing portfolio
- ESH Hospitality in the $1.2 billion CMBS financing of the acquisition of a portfolio of hospitality properties
- LBA Realty in connection with two CMBS financings in 2024 totaling over $1.1 billion and secured by 47 properties in 13 states
- Goldman Sachs as lead lender in a $985 million CMBS financing secured by a portfolio of full service hotels in thirteen states.
- Northwood Investors in the $715 million financing for its acquisition of Fifth + Broadway, a mixed-use development in downtown Nashville, TN
“They are a very
high-quality team with exceptional breadth of experience. They have been
responsible for driving the premium sponsor market.”
– The Legal 500 Real Estate: Property Finance (quoting a client)