Login
Hilton Hotel acquired, undergoes immediate rebrand
Gadens Melbourne has advised UOL Group Limited on its acquisition of the five-star hotel, which has now been rebranded as part of the Pan Pacific portfolio.
Emma Musgrave
Firm: Gadens Melbourne (UOL Group Limited); Undisclosed (Hilton Melbourne South Wharf)
Value: $230 million
Area: M&A
Key players: The legal team advising UOL Group was led by Gadens partner Andrew Kennedy and special counsel Clare Peacock.
Mr Kennedy and Ms Peacock were assisted by partners Jeremy Smith, Siobhan Mulcahy, Adam Howell, Dayna Thomas, John Darmanin, Jodie Dennis, Akshay Naidoo, Marion Cole, Harveen Dhaliwal and Philippa Gilkes.
Deal significance: The UOL Group is a Singapore-based and SGX-listed company.
Following completion of the acquisition of the Hilton Melbourne South Wharf, the five-star hotel has been rebranded as a Pan Pacific Hotel.
The hotel boasts 396 rooms and the acquisition is part of UOL Group’s plans to expand its hotel property portfolio and hotel management businesses in the region, adding to its existing PARKROYAL Melbourne Airport asset and other Pan Pacific and PARKROYAL sites across Australia.
According to Gadens partner Andrew Kennedy, the firm was engaged to undertake comprehensive due diligence investigations, negotiate the terms of the property and business asset sale agreement and attend to completion of the transaction.
Gadens also provided specialist advice in relation to regulatory and tax aspects of the transaction.
“We are pleased to have been able to assist UOL Group in expanding its hotel property portfolio and hotel management businesses in Australia,” Mr Kennedy said.
“UOL Group is one of Singapore’s leading publicly listed property companies with an extensive portfolio of development and investment properties, hotels and serviced suites. UOL Group has numerous hotels in Asia, Oceania and North America under the two renowned brands of ‘Pan Pacific’ and ‘PARKROYAL’.
“This was a fantastic transaction to work closely with UOL Group on, as it involved bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise that are available within Gadens in Melbourne. We look forward to working again with UOL Group in the future.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
Email Emma on:
