Paris independent Gide Loyrette Nouel has advised banking giants Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley as joint arrangers on the issue of €452m (£304m) worth of bonds over a portfolio of French commercial mortgages.

Gide advised the banking duo on the issue of the bonds over mortgages for four Parisian commercial properties. The transaction saw the mortgage loans transferred to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by French property group Mines de la Lucette.

Gide fielded a team led by Paris-based securitisation partner Gilles Saint Marc, along with London-based securities partner Christopher Mead and finance partner Robert MacDonald in New York.

The bonds were issued by the SPV on 23 October, and have been listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. It is the first time that this type of SPV in France has issued bonds to institutional investors in the US under Rule 144A, which allows companies to offer foreign securities to US institutional investors without having to register with US regulators.

Saint Marc commented: "Having a US aspect to a Parisian deal made this an interesting piece of work. It could lay down the groundwork for other investors in the US to look to SPVs of this sort in the future. Deals of this type have previously only been offered in France and within Europe."