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Law360 (April 24, 2020, 8:53 PM EDT ) Pillsbury represented National Bank of Kuwait in leading a $230 million loan for a Latham-counseled borrower over a luxury hotel on East 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan in a deal that closed quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to records made public in New York on Friday and information from Pillsbury.
A mortgage document filed in New York on Friday shows National Bank of Kuwait SAKP provided the loan for the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel at 111 E. 48th St., although Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP's Mona Dajani told Law360 on Friday that Deutsche Bank AG, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Aozora Bank Ltd. and Land Bank of Taiwan Co. Ltd. were also involved in the loan.
The borrower is an entity whose principals are based in Kuwait.
The hotel is located between Park and Lexington avenues and is close to the 51st Street station where the 4 and 6 trains stop. The property also goes by 518 Lexington Ave.
"We were able to close this transaction post-COVID within 30 days. That's extraordinary," Dajani, co-head of the energy and infrastructure projects team at Pillsbury, said. "It's very difficult to close a deal like this in that time frame before COVID. This was after."
The cross-border nature of the deal also made the transaction challenging given that the borrower is in Kuwait and the property is in New York, said Dajani, who works out of Pillsbury's New York and London offices.
The hotel opened its doors in 1926.
"Originally part of Grand Central Terminal's urban design plan, our luxury hotel in New York has helped shape one of the world's most important commercial and financial centers," the hotel's website said.
"It has hosted legendary guests and has even served as the New York headquarters for a presidential campaign," according to the hotel's website, which noted that former President Bill Clinton stayed at the hotel during his 1996 U.S. presidential campaign.
Deutsche Bank knows the property well.
In 2017, the bank loaned $290 million for the hotel, $7 million of that figure being new capital and the remainder refinance of existing debt at the hotel.
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP worked on that $290 million loan, according to public records.
National Bank of Kuwait is represented by Mona Dajani, Shellka Arora-Cox, Christian Scarlett and Rebecca Ross of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
The borrower is represented by Latham & Watkins LLP.
--Editing by Abbie Sarfo.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
