Ursula Harriss is a partner in our real estate practice in London.  Ursula’s practice includes sale and leaseback transactions, real estate outsourcing, large portfolio acquisitions and disposals, public and private M&A and securities offerings and property finance (including CMBS and covered bond securitisations).  Ursula’s sector experience includes energy and utilities (she has acted for E.ON, Mitsui, Sembcorp, Gaz de France Valero and others), Brewing and Healthcare.

Her recent experience includes advising:

  • Galiform (formerly MFI) on its restructuring including refinancing, reorganisation and disposal of its retail and certain other businesses in 2006, involving complex real estate issues and significant real estate holdings;
  • Credit Suisse, as sponsor of the CMBS securitisation by the Mall LP (a Morley managed Shopping Centre Fund of Norwich Union and Capital & Regional) in 2005 and its subsequent value tap securitisation in 2006;
  • Scottish & Newcastle Plc on the structuring of and acquisition by the Globe group of a large portfolio of pubs from Enterprise in 2006;
  • British Vita, part of the Texas Pacific Group on its roll out of a programme of sale and lease backs of European manufacturing sites, including in 2006 the sale and lease back of 11 English and Scottish sites via a JPUT, and subsequent disposals of vacant possession sites as part of British Vita’s rationalisation programme;
  • Telereal on its £2.3bn outsourcing of BT’s property portfolio, its subsequent disposal of 6 key properties from its portfolio to Roch Properties and various subsequent refinancings including its latest value tap securitisation in 2006; and
  • Ursula also acted for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on its lease of its Northcliffe House premises adjacent and linked to its main Whitefriars site.

Ursula was educated at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford and joined the partnership in 2001.

Contact details

ursula.harriss
@freshfields.com

  • London office
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