Understanding Distressed Asset and Real Estate: The New Paradigm

Robert Koen focuses on commercial real estate, with a concentration in real estate acquisitions and finance and complex restructuring for both lender and borrower entities. His extensive experience includes the negotiation, structuring, and documentation of acquisitions, dispositions and co-investment transaction; structuring of real estate joint ventures and partnerships; commercial lending, including conventional loan transactions; construction lending; preferred equity investments mezzanine financings; REIT-related transactions (including formation and merger and acquisition transactions); institutional sale-leaseback transactions; commercial project development (including land and negotiation of construction and development agreements); and real estate loan and investment workouts and restructurings. 

He has handled securitized capital markets and institutional real estate financing. Mr. Koen has also substantial experience with all aspects of international investment in domestic real estate transactions. 

Mr. Koen is listed as one of the world's leading lawyers in the Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers. The respected research publication Legal 500 cites him, noting his "high level of professional service." In the April 2009 issue of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, he was interviewed by journalist Craig Miller in the "Craig's Corner for Counsel" column about green real estate.

As co-head of the firm’s Private Capital and Investment Group, Courtney Nowell focuses her practice on domestic and international business transactions, primarily representing institutional investor clients in private equity and other investment funds, including LBO, venture capital, distressed debt and real estate funds, as well as funds focused on the secondary market. 

Ms. Nowell has extensive experience representing one of the largest institutional investors in the world with respect to its global private equity and real estate fund portfolio, and provides clients with creative, business-focused fiduciary and transactional counsel. She counsels clients on a wide range of business and federal taxation issues, including the sovereign immunity status of foreign governments, foreign ownership of U.S. real estate, the application of bilateral tax treaties and withholding tax obligations. Ms. Nowell also advises institutional investor clients with respect to U.S. and international corporate compliance and governance issues, and advises nonprofit corporation clients with respect to corporate structuring and compliance issues. 

Before joining the firm, Ms. Nowell worked in the national tax department of a national accounting and professional services firm, where she reviewed tax opinions, drafted requests for administrative guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and monitored tax legislative developments.

A partner in the Real Estate Department, Harris B. Freidus advises developers, entrepreneurial and institutional investors, lenders and other parties in all areas of commercial real estate, including developments, financing and securitization, partnerships and joint ventures, sales and acquisitions, construction, leasing and restructuring. Mr. Freidus has been recognized by Chambers USA and by Legal 500 as one of the country's leading Real Estate lawyers.

John Salustri is content director of ALM