Hogan Lovells, Weil Gotshal, DLA Piper head up debt sale to the Barclay brothers

Hogan Lovells, Weil Gotshal & Manges and DLA Piper have taken lead roles on Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) sale of £660m in debt it held on hotels including Claridges (pictured) to the Barclay brothers.

The deal, which closed last month (27 September), saw a vehicle owned by the Barclay brothers buy £660m debt of Maybourne Hotels Group – parent company of Claridges, The Berkeley and The Connaught – from NAMA.

The transaction represents the largest sale completed by NAMA, the 'bad bank' which was set up in 2009 by the Irish Government to manage loans held by banks including Anglo Irish Bank (AIB) and Bank of Ireland after the financial crisis.

Hogan Lovells, which was appointed to NAMA's inaugural legal panel last year, advised the body through a London-based team led by restructuring partner Paul McLoughlin, who was assisted by senior associate Stuart Tait.

The firm, which worked alongside Ireland's Maples and Calder, initially advised NAMA in April on a restructuring of AIB and Bank of Ireland's debt initially provided to Maybourne, which transferred to NAMA.

The Barclay brothers, who control 64% of Maybourne's equity, instructed longstanding adviser Weil on the deal, with finance partner James Hogben, who joined from Ashurst in January 2011, in the lead. The acquisition was made through Maybourne Finance Limited.

Maybourne Hotel Group was advised by a DLA Piper team led by London real estate finance chief Toby Barker.

McLoughlin commented: "Hogan Lovells has been advising NAMA since November 2010 in relation to the facilities acquired and we are pleased, almost a year later, to have completed the sale of the debt."