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Real Estate, Construction & Tourism Law

CTSU, member of Deloitte Legal practice offers a broad range of services to clients operating in the real estate and construction industry around the world. Many of the Deloitte Legal practices serve the industry's largest REITs and property companies, construction and engineering companies, and real estate investors.

The Deloitte Legal Real Estate and Construction Industry Group includes lawyers with a specialized industry focus and broad experience with real estate and construction related to legal matters, comprising dedicated professionals in several countries.

To effectively navigate the global real estate market and deal successfully with a changing legal environment, businesses need an experienced legal advisor who understands business strategy and can provide practical and prudent advice for achieving commercial objectives.

We consider that the key issue is to provide assistance with a high quality, cost effective service, which adds value to the company’s activities. One of our underlying values is to build and sustain long-term client relationships.

CTSU advises companies on the legal implications of business activity in the real estate sector, including acquisitions and disposals, due diligence on real estate, negotiation of contracts and related commercial matters. We also provide assistance with the commercialization of shopping centers, office buildings, touristic projects, etc.

CTSU looks at strategic business objectives and provides practical legal guidance from multiple perspectives.

Transaction assistance

CTSU’S team provides advice on the buying as well as selling of investment properties, whether highly complex or straightforward transactions, portfolio acquisitions, forward purchase agreements, sale and lease back, joint ventures and partnerships, real estate private equity fund investments in commercial, industrial, retail, residential and green energy projects, transaction legal structuring, including legal assistance in all stages of the deal.

Structuring the transaction

Our team’s main focus at this stage of the transaction usually consists in analysis and validation of the proposed transaction structure, particularly in less straight-forward deals; identification of risks, design contractual mechanisms or confirmation of a certain approach as well as advice on legal aspects to be taken into account.

Pre-contractual documentation

Drafting of the letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, term sheet as well as promissory sale and purchase agreements.

Legal due diligence analysis

Our lawyers closely analyze the target’s legal affairs with a special emphasis on specific areas such as: ownership title over the relevant assets and (in shares deals) target shares, ownership history, encumbrances and litigations; different levels of details, from descriptive reports to highlighting of findings; analysis of findings and assessment of their impact on the transactions; design and implementations of solutions to findings, including revisiting the deal structure, obtaining title insurance security and negotiations with the title insurer in light of international best practices.

Transaction documentation

Our professionals are experienced in drafting, revising and negotiating share/asset purchase agreements and joint venture agreements in light of the applicable local and international best market practices. In addition, we aim to customize the documentation in accordance with the specifics of the commercial structure and the property in order to provide a suitable transaction instrument and to address the issues identified during the due diligence process, including potential findings revealed by the technical due diligence.

Post-closing and transaction implementation documentation

Our team ensures that post-closing and transaction implementation is closely monitored as well as that all specific documentation necessary to assess such process is prepared and ready for execution (e.g. confirmations of fulfilment of condition precedents, take over minutes, price statements, supervision of the registration procedures with the Land Book, etc.).

Title insurance

Depending upon the specificity of the project, if they arise the need to contact a title insurance. We have significant experience regarding such remedies in the risks related to those titles, including both lender and owner policies, and we have negotiated policies for assuring coverage in accordance with the best practices in the area.

Foreign Investment

We also provide legal assistance to foreign individuals and companies wishing to invest in Portugal.

Our lawyers have experience in advising investors from all over the world who wish to apply for the Golden Visa Program (Residence Permit for Investment Activity) in Portugal.

The Golden Visa Program enables citizens who invest in Portugal to apply for a Portuguese Residency Permit, which grants them and their families the right to live in Portugal and to travel freely within the majority of the European Countries.

The main route of investment (which amounts to more than 90% of the permits issued and granted) under the Golden Visa Program is property acquisition.

Our combined experience of Real Estate and Immigration law and practices allows us to structure the investment in order to confirm that the entire proceeding complies with the requirements established by the Program.

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