Morrison & Foerster forms Real Estate Companies Solutions Group

The global law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP has created an interdisciplinary team of attorneys to represent clients in the accelerating wave of dealmaking, as real estate companies worldwide seek to deleverage, recapitalize, restructure and otherwise seek liquidity. The newly formed Real Estate Companies Solutions Group draws together experts with real estate-specific industry expertise from the firm's real estate, corporate, capital markets, tax, fund formation, bankruptcy, restructuring and litigation groups. The group will provide targeted advice to real estate companies, investors and other capital sources in entity-level transactions resulting from the current unprecedented real property and finance sector dislocations. The group will represent clients on a holistic basis to implement a broad range of options, such as M&A, tender offers, spin-offs, joint ventures, or bankruptcy including "prepackaged" bankruptcies. The Real Estate Companies Solutions Group includes attorneys in the firm's domestic and international offices and will complement the firm's globally recognized real estate, real estate finance and distressed real estate practices, which represent lenders in the restructuring or enforcement of secured and unsecured indebtedness of real estate companies and parties in the finance and acquisition of real estate. "The current 'perfect storm' affecting the real estate industry is creating both risks and opportunities for our clients", said Michael Cohen, a Los Angeles partner in the Corporate Finance Practice Group. "Most real estate companies are considering a wide range of alternatives to respond to these historic conditions. Conversely, other companies and capital sources, some of them new to the U.S. market, sense an opportunity to buy into or acquire troubled or undervalued real estate companies. Proper legal representation of these clients requires a coordinated, multi-disciplinary, global real estate team." "The firm has longstanding expertise and reputation in all of the areas that impact Real Estate Companies in this environment," said Andrew Weiner, a New York partner in the Real Estate Practice Group. "However, creating a cross-disciplinary group enhances our ability to respond quickly and comprehensively to client needs. Speed and coordination of industry-savvy expertise in responding to client needs will be critical in this environment, particularly since we anticipate a dramatic increase in the number and size of these transactions." Among the categories of transactions involving real estate companies (including REITs) that the Group expects to execute in the months ahead: * Mergers and acquisitions involving significant real estate-related assets, securities or companies; * Tender offers; * Going-private transactions; * Spin-offs or split offs; * REIT conversions and de-conversions; * Restructuring/workout transactions representing or involving real estate companies or commingled funds; * Representing companies or new equity in bankruptcies and reorganizations, including "prepackaged" bankruptcies; * Private equity investments in real estate companies; and * Joint ventures and co-investments involving real estate companies. With more than 1,000 lawyers in key finance and technology centers internationally, Morrison & Foerster offers clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm is distinguished by its expertise in finance, life sciences, and technology, its litigation skills, and its reach across the Pacific Rim, particularly in Japan and China.