John Rice is a member of the property team at SGH Martineau - a top 70 UK law firm with offices in Birmingham and London. John trained at Martineau, qualified in 1989 and made partner in 1997. His particular specialism is advising lenders and borrowers on funding arrangements relating to property acquisitions and/or developments, including joint venture arrangements, where parties with different resources and specialities collaborate in order to carry out property developments.
His areas of specialisation include bank facilities; priorities; composite security documents; asset backed secured lending especially property; funding for regeneration projects and funding for commercial property developments.
John is heavily involved with the firm’s top tier ranked education group, where he leads a specialist team of lawyers, drawn from banking, property and construction, with great understanding and specialist knowledge of lending into the further and higher education sectors.
According to Chambers & Partners; “Clients appreciate that John ‘explores every avenue’ and voices his opinions rather than sitting on the fence”.
John’s work includes;
- Acting for a clearing bank on a multi-million pound loan for the acquisition and development of a large shopping centre
- Advising on funding structures and funding arrangements when an HE and FE institution have undertaken joint ventures
- Advising on property transfer and banking arrangements in the merger of two London universities, including substantive negotiations with lawyers acting for the banks of both universities
- Advising on more than £1 billion of loans to the university and college sectors
- Acting for a University in the disposal of an inner-city site previously used for student accommodation to be redeveloped as a major residential scheme, including overage provisions
John runs training sessions on issues relating to property and development finance. He is cited by Legal 500 as a leading individual in the West Midlands.