Ron Eames

Expertise

Ron advises some of Australia’s leading property developers on projects both within and outside of Australia, including a number of iconic developments. He has lectured in property and infrastructure financing at the Macquarie University Applied Finance Centre and has been a Visiting Fellow of that University.

Experience

Ron’s experience includes:

• acted for Coles Group in relation to the acquisition of various Coles Express and Supermarket sites in Queensland
• acts for McConaghy Group in relation to the acquisition and development of large regional shopping centers in Queensland and New South Wales including due diligence on existing centers, aggregation of sites, obtaining relevant approvals and leasing to anchor tenants
• drafted and negotiated Agreement for McConaghy Group in relation to the acquisition of various shopping centres and expansion of land in Queensland including Dalby Shopping world, involving the initial acquisition of the centre and then the acquisition of 12 expansion properties in the main street of Dalby, Queensland, as well as road closures, due diligence, development approval, negotiation of leases with major tenants, negotiation of relocation provisions and releasing of vacant properties
• acted for McConaghy Properties in connection with the redevelopment of Castletown Shopping Centre including on the aggregation of the redevelopment land, dealing with tenants in relation to relocation and re-leasing of the centre on completion of the redevelopment works as well as road closures, settlement of optioned properties, negotiation of anchor tenant leases and other leasing
• acted for the Sunland Group on the development of the mixed use retail, commercial and residential project known as Circle on Cavil, including the retail and commercial leasing and the subsequent sale of the volumetric retail precinct and the commercial precinct
• acts for both borrowers and lenders in connection with the acquisition financing of major commercial and retail properties including due diligence on the leases and approvals relevant to major shopping centres
• negotiated and drafted joint venture documents for the Sunland Group in connection with the joint venture for the development of Palazzo Versace Dubi and D1 Dubai. This included forming a license agreement with Guianni Versace SpA, shareholders’ agreement, development management agreement and project marketing agreement, and implementing financial arrangements (which included the incorporation of BVI companies to accommodate the project’s tax structures due to the domicile of the joint venturers)
• drafted and negotiated the Stapled Securities agreements (which included a security holders agreement and management agreement) for the Southern Cross Storage Trust between National Storage and Heitmann Group (a US based fund manager). This included stamp duty advice in each Australian jurisdiction
• drafted and negotiated the agreement for the Bundall Road Trust between National Storage and its joint venture partner (which included a security holders agreement, trust deeds and manage agreement) for the joint development of a self-storage facility and a commercial facility. The agreement considered the eventual transfer of the Storage Facility to National Storage and the Commercial Facility to the joint venture partner
• after the establishment of the Southern Cross Storage Trust, acted for the Bundall Road Trust on the acquisition of 25 self-storage facilities (land and associated businesses) located across Australia (excluding Northern Territory) including:
  • due diligence on each facility
  • negotiating and drafting the Business Sale and Property Sale Agreements
  • negotiating the finance documents with the syndicate of banks
  • calculating settlement figures and arranging settlement of the multiple agreement to occur contemporaneously
• acts for National Storage in connection with high value capital transactions, including the acquisition of the real estate assets and business comprising the Southern Cross Storage Trust (transaction value: $280 million). This included due diligence in 26 real estate assets across Australia, and advice on Corporations Act and ASX requirements relevant to public companies
• drafted and negotiated the Share Sale Agreements for Sunland Group in relation to the sale of a 50% interest in the joint venture vehicles undertaking the development of Palazzo Versace Dubai and D1 Duba
• drafted and negotiated the Sale Agreement for Sunland Group in relation to the sale of the Palazzo Versace Gold Coast Resort
• drafted and negotiated an agreement for RAC in relation to the acquisition of Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast. This included comprehensive due diligence on a resort governed by the Integrated Resorts Development Act (Qld) dealing with the integration of a hotel with various residential precincts
• acted for a major projects’ sponsor in connection with the contracts securitisation and rated notes issue to raise project finance for major property projects in Queensland (Circle on Cavill) and Victoria (Yve) involving the structuring of a bankruptcy remote vehicle to issue rated notes into the private equities market and negotiating all financing documents
• acted for the subordinated lender in connection with the provision of a facility to the developer of the 75-level Soul Project at Surfers Paradise, Queensland.