Maple Tree purchases HSBC Building in Toronto’s Financial District

Maple Tree completed the purchase of the HSBC Building in Toronto from HSBCB for $110 million.

Maple Tree (Freehold) Inc. and Maple Tree (Leasehold) Inc. (together, Maple Tree), wholly owned indirect subsidiaries of Anbang Insurance Group (Anbang), completed the purchase of the HSBC Building in Toronto from HSBCB (BOPC) Inc. and HSBCB Leasehold (BOPC) Inc. (together, HSBCB), wholly owned subsidiaries of Brookfield Office Properties Canada LP, for $110 million.

The HSBC Building, at 70 York Street, occupies a landmark position at the northwest corner of York and Wellington Streets.

Maple Tree/Anbang was represented in-house by Raymond Goh and by Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP with a team led by Mark Convery and included Aaron Bowler, Michael Lieberman, Oliver Moore, Rose Christensen (real estate), Adrienne Oliver, Barry Segal, Michael Sherman (tax), Kevin Ackhurst, Stephen Nattress (competition), Michael Horvat (employment), Madeleine Donahue (environmental), Karen Galpern, Ruth Wahl, Mary Kelly, Leo Wang, Jenny Yoo, Nikolai Kovtouchenko (corporate) and Noah Schein (banking) in Canada, as well as James Rogers and Nik Wilson (corporate) in Hong Kong.

HSBCB/Brookfield was represented in-house by Deborah Rogers and by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP with a team led by Mark Brennan which included Paul King, Craig Carter (real estate), Tony Baldanza (competition), Kathleen Butterfield (corporate), Paul Casuccio (tax) and Robert Iaccino (real estate).

The acquisition included the assumption of both a long-term ground lease and a first mortgage in favour of CDPQ Mortgage Investment Corporation (CDPQ), with the ground lease landlord being represented by McCarthy Tétrault LLP led by Gord Sato and CDPQ being represented by McCarthy Tétrault LLP led by Tzen-Yi Goh.