James H Lokey Jr. (Jim)

Recent Transactions

• Represented General Electric Capital Corporation in the formation of a joint venture with Angelo Gordon & Co., LP for the purpose of sponsoring the AG GECC Public-Private Investment Fund, L.P.  This fund is one of nine investment funds under the Public-Private Investment Program (“PPIP”) established jointly by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve System, and the FDIC to purchase certain types of both residential and commercial mortgage backed securities.  This fund will have a 50% ownership interest in the public-private vehicle, and the U.S. Treasury will have a 50% ownership interest.
  
  
• Represented a large Swiss financial institution in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
  
  
• Represented The Brookdale Group in the formation of a series of real estate investment funds, the latest being Brookdale Investors Six, L.P. which raised in excess of $400 million of equity capital to be used for opportunistic investments in suburban office buildings.
  
  
• Represented a large healthcare system with respect to restructuring its split-dollar life insurance program for senior executives.
  
  
• Represented AvalonBay Communities in connection with the formation of AvalonBay Value Added Fund II, L.P. which raised $400 million of equity capital.  This fund is the exclusive vehicle though which AvalonBay Communities invests in completed multifamily rental apartment communities in the U.S.
  
  
• Represented Highland Capital Management in structuring certain acquisitions of timber land.
  
  
• Represented an acute care hospital in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Internal Revenue Service into alleged tax improprieties.
  
  
• Represented Paladin Latin America Funds I and II in various joint ventures in Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
  
  
• Represented Sprint in the tax-free acquisition of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. for Sprint shares valued at $483 million.
  
  
• Represented Petra Capital in the formation of Petra Growth Fund II, LP, a licensed SBIC dedicated to providing growth capital to small businesses in the form of mezzanine loans and preferred stock.
  
  
• Represented Total Technology Ventures in the formation of TTP Fund II, LP, a venture capital fund dedicated to technology driven businesses.
  
  
• Represented the UPS pension fund in connection with its investments in numerous private equity funds.
  
  
• Represented Synovus Financial Corp. in its $4.7 billion spin-off of Total System Services, Inc.

Other Practice Highlights Include:

• Represented AMB Property Corporation–
  
  
  • in organizing AMB Institutional Alliance REIT III, Inc., an open-end fund with approximately $1.5 billion in equity capital formed to invest in industrial real estate located in the U.S.;
    
    
  • in organizing AMB Europe Fund I, FCP-FIS, an open-end fund that currently has approximately €800 million of assets under management, formed to invest in industrial real estate located in Europe;
    
    
  • in structuring a joint venture with a sovereign wealth fund to invest in industrial real estate in Mexico; and
    
    
  • in structuring a joint venture with Cyrela Commercial Properties S.A. for the development of industrial real estate in Brazil.
    
    
• Represented ING Clarion in connection with the formation of Lion Industrial Trust, an open-ended investment fund organized as a private REIT, which then acquired a portfolio of approximately 300 industrial properties from Crow Holdings Industrial Trust for a purchase price of approximately $1.35 billion.
  
  
• Represented Lion Industrial Trust in the formation of a joint venture with GE Pension Trust, which then acquired the M.D. Hodges Group from a Blackstone Group real estate fund for approximately $430 million.
  
  
• Represented ING Clarion in connection with the formation of Lion Gables Apartment Fund, LP, which then acquired Gables Residential Trust for approximately $2.8 billion in a going private transaction.
  
  
• Represented Atlanta Spirit, LLC in connection with the acquisition from Turner Broadcasting Corporation of the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball team, the Atlanta Thrashers NHL hockey team, and rights to operate Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
  
  
• Represented InTown Suites Management, Inc. in connection with its $100 million acquisition of Suburban Lodges of America, Inc., a public company including over 60 extended-stay hotels.
  
  
• Represented Croft & Bender in the formation of C&B Capital I and II, private equity funds that provide venture and growth capital to small businesses.
  
  
• Represented General Electric Capital Corporation with respect to a series of investments in various private equity real estate funds.
  
  
• Represented GE Capital Real Estate in connection with the formation of joint ventures to own a portfolio of assisted living facilities.
  
  
• Represented Haddington Ventures, LLC in the formation of Haddington Energy Partners III, LP, a venture capital fund formed to invest in companies active in the midstream sector of the energy industry.
  
  
• Represented Haddington Energy Partners III, LP and one of its portfolio companies, PortBarre Holdings, LLC, in connection with an investment of $65 million of equity capital by GE Energy Finance.
  
  
• Represented JAMESTOWN in connection with the acquisition, in a joint venture with affiliates of Apollo, of 1290 Avenue of the Americas, a 1.2 million square foot office building in New York City, in a transaction valued at approximately $745 million.
  
  
• Represented JAMESTOWN in connection with the acquisition of Chelsea Market ($270 million), 111 8th Avenue ($775 million), and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel of South Beach ($165 million).
  
  
• Represented Lend Lease Real Estate Investments in the formation of its flagship domestic commingled fund series known was the Value Enhancement Funds, the latest in the series being Fund VI.
  
  
• Represented Sprint in organizing its multi-billion dollar alliance with TCI, Cox, and Comcast to create Sprint PCS, a new national wireless telephone service provider.  Thereafter, represented the alliance in several joint ventures.
  
  
• Represented Sprint in connection with the formation of Virgin Mobile USA, LLC, a joint venture with a subsidiary of Virgin, Inc. and Best Buy Co., Inc. to provide mobile wireless Sprint PCS telecommunications services under the “Virgin” brand.
  
  
• Represented Sprint in connection with the restructuring of Virgin Mobile USA and its IPO.
  
  
• Obtained technical advice from the Internal Revenue Service that more than 100,000 sales representatives of a Citigroup subsidiary were properly classified as independent contractors, rather than as employees.
  
  
• Represented a Section 501(c)(3) acute care hospital with respect to an Internal Revenue Service audit of multiple tax years, including successful negotiation of closing agreement pursuant to which the hospital retained its tax-exempt status.
  
  
• Represented SunTrust Banks in developing a tax-efficient structure for the acquisition of its Atlanta headquarters building from Portman Holdings.
  
  
• Represented a subsidiary of Citigroup before the Internal Revenue Service to seek technical advice with respect to the proper time to deduct advances made to life insurance sales agents.
  
  
• Represented the investment authority of a foreign government in restructuring a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio, including lobbying the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service for a change in Treasury regulations.
  
  
• Represented Nippon Life Insurance Company in connection with the workout of a $400 million loan secured by Peachtree Center.
  
  
• Represented the Trammell Crow Company in connection with the withdrawal of the Northwest regional partner.  Devised and implemented the tax-deferred division of over $1 billion in real estate assets.
  
  
• Represented Shearson Lehman Hutton in a public offering of limited partnership interests in Silver Screen Partners IV, a vehicle for financing Walt Disney motion pictures.