DLA Piper, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Kirkland & Ellis and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson advised on GIC and Oak Street’s $14bn acquisition of STORE Capital, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in single tenant properties. 

DLA Piper provided legal counsel to STORE Capital, Skadden advised Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Kirkland advised private equity real estate investor Oak Street and Fried Frank provided counsel to Goldman Sachs, STORE Capital’s financial advisor.

STORE Capital shareholders will receive $32.25 per share in cash, a 20.4% premium on the REIT’s closing price on Wednesday. The merger is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. The merger agreement also allows STORE Capital to shop around for a better deal until October 15.

Adam Gaillistel, head of Americas real estate at GIC, said: “As one of the largest dedicated US net lease real estate companies in a nearly $4 trillion-dollar market, STORE Capital is a strong addition to GIC’s diverse portfolio of US real estate investments. We are confident the company will continue its trajectory of accretive growth by meeting the demand for long-term financing solutions from middle market US companies.”

Kirkland’s team was jointly led by corporate partner Michael Brueck and real estate partners David Rosenberg and Andrew Van Noord. Meantime Fried Frank’s team was led by corporate partners Philip Richter and Roy Tannenbaum.

The Skadden effort was led by real estate partner Nancy Olson and M&A partner Blair Thetford, corporate counsel Peter Jones, real estate counsel Matea Bozja, banking partner David Wagener and tax partners David Polster and Nickolas Gianou. DLA Piper did not immediately disclose details. 

Marc Zahr, president of Oak Street, said: “We believe the STORE Capital platform complements Oak Street’s exposure to the triple-net industry and our focus on sale-leasebacks. The potential scale of this combination and partnership can deliver one of the most diversified, unique and long dated net lease platforms across the globe.”

A net lease is where tenants have to pay part of or all of a property’s taxes, insurance fees and maintenance costs on top of their rent. 

Tawn Kelly, chairman of STORE Capital’s board of directors, said: “This all-cash transaction delivers a meaningful premium that provides immediate and certain value for our stockholders in a challenging market environment.”