Jonathan Kandel
M +44 77 9383 3784

Overview
Jonathan is an advisor to asset managers, sovereign wealth funds and state owned enterprises on tax issues relating to private equity, credit, real estate and infrastructure.
Jonathan is ranked in Band 1 in Chambers UK (2022) and Chambers Global (2022) for Tax: Investment Funds and has been recognised as a Leading Lawyer for Corporate Tax by The Legal 500 UK (2022).
Experience
Representative Matters
Starwood Capital:
- and SOF-12 Cambridge BidCo Limited, owned by Starwood Funds, on the c. £467.9 million recommended cash offer for RDI REIT
- on the intention to launch a Public Takeover Offer for CA Immobilien Anlagen AG
- on the acquisition of a 29.42% stake in London-listed RDI Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division on its acquisition of B&B Hotels
TPG Real Estate Partners:
- on the close of TPG Real Estate Partners IV
- on its strategic joint venture with Gatehouse Bank
- on its c. €300 million acquisition of Témpore Properties, a Spanish Real Estate Investment Trust
- on the acquisition of a site comprising approximately 39,000 sqm of buildable area in central Lisbon, Portugal, as part of a joint venture with Round Hill Capital
- TPG Real Estate Partners II on its £450 million acquisition of Arlington Properties from Goodman Group and Legal & General
Searchlight Capital on the acquisition of a 26% minority stake in Latécoère
KKR in relation to the initial public offering of Telepizza
GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund:
- on a $1 billion joint venture to acquire Equinix Inc’s European hyperscale data centres which involved complex cross-border tax implications
- as part of a consortium on the c. €4.4 billion acquisition of a 55% a stake in the real estate assets of French multinational hotel group AccorHotels
- on its €2.4 billion acquisition of P3 Logistic Parks
Lone Star in the financing aspects of its acquisition of the Xella Group from PAI Partners and funds managed by Goldman Sachs’ investment arm
Brookfield:
- on its c. £3 billion consortium bid for Intu plc
- on its acquisition and financing of the SACO (Serviced Apartment Company) platform from Oaktree Capital Management
- on its acquisition of GL Europe RE Holdings SARL, a U.K. student accommodation platform, from Avenue Capital
Blackstone:
- and Telereal Trillium on the £1.46 billion privatisation of Network Rail’s commercial estate
- on the £450 million sale the 7,921-bed Victoria Hall student accommodation portfolio
- on the €492 million acquisition of a portfolio of European logistics assets from Marathon (in partnership with Industrial Securities, part of MARCOL)
- on its acquisition of the O’Flynn Group (and various related transactions), which includes the Victoria Hall student housing business
Global Logistics Properties (GLP):
- on its bid for Logicor (sold to CIC for €12.25 billion)
- on the US$2.8 billion acquisition of European logistics business IDI Gazeley from Brookfield Asset Management
Goldman Sachs, Park Square and NGA Human Resources on the sale of NGA’s UK mid-market and small and medium business divisions to Bain Capital Private Equity
Lone Star in the financing aspects of its acquisition of the Xella Group from PAI Partners and funds managed by Goldman Sachs’ investment arm
Oaktree Capital Management on the carve out and sale of its UK student housing business to a consortium of GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and global student accommodation firm GSA
Aleph Capital on the set up of its platform, joint venture with Crestview and investment in Interoute
Molson Coors on its $12bn acquisition of SABMiller’s interest in MillerCoors joint venture
Macquarie sponsored funds in relation to Birmingham, Bristol, Rome, Sydney and Brussels airports; in relation to the M6, Ontario Highway 407, Chicago Skyway and APRR toll road transactions and in relation to certain of their telecoms and network acquisitions
Orion Capital Managers:
- on the aborted £400 million acquisition of a portfolio of seven retail parks from Hammerson plc
- on the acquisition of Telford, Wakefield, East Kilbride and Kingsgate Shopping Centres
- on the acquisition of 259 City Road and The Glebe residential developments
- and CarVal Investors on the disposal of certain joint ventures
Qatari Diar and CPC in relation to the acquisition of Chelsea Barracks and One Hyde Park
Credit & Restructuring
- LSF10 Wolverine Investments S.C.A, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Lone Star Funds, in connection with its offering of €515 million Senior Secured Notes due 2024 for the acquisition by Lone Star of the Stark Group
- KKR Special Situations and its portfolio company Selecta, on the pending acquisition of Gruppo Argenta, a leading vending and coffee service provider in Italy
- Toys “R” Us, Inc., and 24 of its direct and indirect subsidiaries (Toys) for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, to address the debtors’ more than US$5.2 billion of global prepetition indebtedness
- Blackrock in relation to its corporate credit and CLO platform
- Carlyle, Blackstone and Blackrock in relation to certain CLO transactions
- Lehman Brothers Holding Inc on matters relating to the administration of the estate of Lehman Brothers International (Europe)
- KKR Special Situations:
- on the restructuring of its portfolio company, Northgate Information Solutions Holdings Limited
- on the establishment of a distressed debt and corporate turnaround advisory business
- on a joint venture with two Italian banks regarding Italian loans
- AXA in relation to their real estate credit platform
Funds
- JP Morgan Asset Management on the closing of Lynstone Special Situations Fund II, a $2.4 billion fund
- One Equity Partners on the closing of One Equity Partners VIII with committed capital of $2.75 billion
- KPS Capital Partners in the formation of KPS Special Situations Fund V, a $6 billion fund
- KPS Capital Partners in the formation of KPS Special Situations Mid-Cap Fund, a $1 billion fund
- Crestview Partners on the formation of Crestview Partners Fund IV, a contrarian value-oriented middle market fund targeting $3.5 billion
- EQT on the formation of multiple investment vehicles, including:
- EQT Mid-Market Credit Fund II, a €2.3 billion Europe credit fund
- EQT Public Value Fund, which invests in public value opportunities
- a co-investment vehicle to invest alongside its various funds
- GLP on the formation of multiple funds, including:
- GLP Continental Europe Development Partners I, a €2 billion fund that targets logistics properties in Europe
- GLP Europe Income Partners, a €800 fund that invests in industrial and warehouse properties
- GLP Europe Development Partners I, a €1.1 billion opportunistic fund that invests in industrial properties in Western Europe
- Landmark Equity Partners on the formation of Landmark Equity Partners XVI, a $7 billion secondaries fund
- Vitruvian Partners on the establishment of Vitruvian Investment Partnership III, a €2.4 billion fund to invest in growth capital and mid-market investment opportunities in Europe
- The Carlyle Group on the Closing of Fourth Japanese Buyout Fund at $2.3 Billion
- TPG Real Estate on the fund formation and fundraising, gathering $3.7 billion in capital
- Starwood Capital Group on the formation of multiple funds, including:
- Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XII, a large commingled real estate fund, which closed with capital commitments exceeding $10 billion
- Starwood Distressed Special Fund, a fund set up to invest globally in equity and debt securities of real estate-related publicly traded companies
- Starwood Global Opportunity Fund XI, which exceeded its US$5 billion - US$6 billion target and finished hitting its hard cap with a total of US$7.6 billion in commitments, making Fund XI the largest fundraise in Starwood’s 26-year history
- ABN Amro, Abraaj, Actis, Aermont, AEW, AMP Capital, Apax, Arcus, Argan, Barclays, Bastion, BC Partners, Blackrock, Brookfield, BTG Pactual, Carlyle, Charterhouse, Crestview, DLJMB, EISER, EQT, GMT, GPI Capital, GLP, Graphite, GTCR LLC, Hastings, Hermes, HSBC, Industry Funds Management, Industri Kapital, InfraRed, JPM, Lion Capital, Macquarie, Orion, Pollen Street, RREEF, Starwood, Summit LP, TDR, Terra Firma, TPG, Trilantic, Vitruvian Partners and Warburg Pincus on fund raisings
Secondary Transactions/GP Minority Deals/Strategic M&A
- 17Capital on the strategic partnership with Oaktree under which it will sell a majority stake to Oaktree
- Antin on its €4.1 billion initial public offering on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange
- Montagu Private Equity on the sale of a strategic stake of Goldman Sachs’ Petershill Unit
- EQT on the sale of its Credit business to Bridgepoint
- Goldman Sachs’ Petershill unit in the acquisition of a minority interest in Permira
- EQT on its c. $1.8 billion combination with Exeter Property Group, a leading global real estate investment manager
- Acting for Landmark, HarbourVest, Lexington, CPPIB and OTPP as investors in secondary transactions
- Blackstone Strategic Capital Holdings on its strategic minority partnership with BC Partners
- Rhône Group in its strategic partnership with Eurazeo SE (EPA: RF) for a 30% interest in Rhône Group in exchange for $270 million in cash and Eurazeo stock
- Starwood Capital Group in connection with a minority investment into its funds by Dyal Capital Partners, a unit of Neuberger Berman Private Equity
Spin Outs
- Acting for management teams spinning out of Barclays, HSBC, ABN Amro, Credit Suisse, Babcock & Brown, Fortis and Bank of America
Own Account
- China Investment Corporation (CIC); Government of Singapore (GIC); KAUST; Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) and OMERS on own account tax matters
Prior Experience
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Partner, Head of Tax, 2011–2015
Clifford Chance
- Partner, 2008–2011
- Associate, 2001–2008
- Trainee Solicitor, 1999–2001
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Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2001, Admitted to Practice as a Solicitor of England and Wales
Education
- College of Law, LondonGraduate Diploma in Law1998
- College of Law, LondonLegal Practice Course1997
- Queens’ College, University of CambridgeM.A. (Cantab.), Classics1996