Holly Taylor
Holly is part of the Asset Management Team and the Occupier Team so has a wealth of experience in acting for both landlords and tenants. She works with a number of funds, investors, large retailers and corporate occupiers on every day lease and other occupational real estate issues, including managing portfolios and freehold and leasehold acquisitions and disposals. She also has extensive experience of large scale and fast-paced projects, such as acquisition, relocation or disposal programmes, and innovative new ventures.
Holly has an intuitive understanding of the need for clients to let properties quickly in order to realise their value as an asset and their needs to acquire stores, office/warehouse premises or commence new operations, but at minimal risk and with fair and reasonable documentation that allow them to operate the way that they want to. By driving processes that get to the crux of commercial and strategic objectives, Holly helps clients get the most of the real estate that is crucial to their business.
Holly enjoys the organisation and process of what we do, the feeling of checking things off the list. Along the way, our knowledge of that process means that we can make suggestions that might save the client time or mean they can complete something more cost-efficiently. Holly is experienced in dealing with management projects in order to achieve clients' targets in their business strategies and works with client to manage transactions and develop efficient procedures.
The world Holly works in is very different from, for example, that of litigation focused lawyer when you are always fighting against someone. The negotiation stage in particular is very collaborative and everyone you're involved with is trying to achieve a common goal on a deadline, which helps forge some great and really valuable working relationships.
Her specific expertise includes working closely and collaboratively with our wider Commercial and Corporate teams when work streams overlap and often under tight timescales, such as for concession agreements and refinancing certificates of title.
Experience
- Leading on the assignment of over 300 leasehold stores for a retail client who needed to dispose to their competitors in order to meet the Competition and Markets Authority's requirements to permit the merger of two companies.
- Leading the portfolio estate management team for a large licensed betting office chain.
- Advising supermarket retailers on freehold and leasehold acquisitions (including new build developments) to meet a fast paced acquisition programme.
- Sale and leaseback projects for corporate occupiers.
- Advising on the property arrangements for Argos's innovative deal with Sainsbury's to launch a series of Argos digital stores within a number of its UK supermarkets, including operational and logistics aspects which then led to the subsequent purchase of Argos by Sainsbury's.
- Advising Kennedy Wilson on due diligence for a £127 million refinancing facility with GE Real Estate Loans Limited. The due diligence was completed under an extremely tight timetable, during peak holiday seasons and involved finding unique commercial solutions to title issues due to rigid bank requirements.
- Leasehold acquisitions and granting leases (including high street stores and new build developments), lease renewals and lease re-gears.
- Dealing with assignments and surrenders of leases.
- Advising on the property elements of insolvency process when a retailer enters into administration or liquidation.