• July 15, 2010 |

    Cleary and Shearman sign off deal double on HSBC securities offers

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Shearman & Sterling have lined up on a series of finance deals for banking giant HSBC. The most recent deal saw HSBC offer $2bn (£1.3bn) worth of senior notes with a five-year term, with regular adviser Cleary instructed to provide UK, US and Russian law advice. Moscow-based corporate partner David Gottlieb led the team, assisted by associate Blake Klein.

    1 minute read

  • July 7, 2010 |

    Cleary leads for Google on acquisition of online flight booking software company

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has advised Google on its $700m (£463m) acquisition of ITA Software, one of the few companies specialising in software that allows online flight booking. The acquisition, which will allow Google to better compete with search rivals such as Microsoft's Bing, saw Cleary field a team including M&A partner Ethan Klingsberg, employee benefits partner Michael Albano, intellectual property partner Leonard Jacoby and tax partner Sheldon Alster.

    1 minute read

  • June 29, 2010 |

    Trio of firms advise on £300m sale of fashion retailer Republic

    A trio of firms have secured roles on a £300m fashion deal that has seen TPG Capital acquire UK-based retailer Republic. Top 20 City law firm SJ Berwin took the lead role for Republic and the seller Change Capital Partners on the transaction, having initially advised the private equity house when it bought the fashion outlet in 2005.

    1 minute read

  • June 16, 2010 |

    International firms in London: Swoop to conquer

    June 2009, and it was just another not-so-hectic day in the finance department of Addleshaw Goddard's London office - which, after some busy years in the middle of the decade, had slowed dramatically following the onset of the credit crunch in 2007. The firm had recently posted its annual financial results, announcing a fall in revenue of 11.4% and a 30.9% decline in profits per equity partner (PEP), having earlier that year cut 10% of its partnership. Needless to say, acquisition finance partner Phil Slater was on hand to answer his phone when it rang that morning.

    1 minute read

  • June 15, 2010 |

    Herbert Smith leads on News Corp's multi-billion BSkyB takeover bid

    Herbert Smith has secured a lead role advising BSkyB on News Corporation's bid to purchase the remaining share capital in the satellite broadcaster, valuing the company at more than £12bn. Allen & Overy (A&O) and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom are advising News Corp on its bid to take full control of BSkyB by acquiring the remaining 60.1% of shares in the company, with BSkyB today rejecting an initial offer of £7 a share.

    1 minute read

  • June 9, 2010 |

    Private equity giant TPG names Cravath partner as new GC

    Private equity firm TPG Capital has recruited long-serving Cravath Swaine & Moore partner Ronald Cami as its new general counsel, reports Corporate Counsel. Cami, who has represented numerous major corporate clients including Alcon, DE Shaw & Co, General Motors, The Washington Post Company and Bristol-Myers Squibb, has spent the vast majority of his career in Cravath's New York office.

    1 minute read

  • May 26, 2010 |

    China: Years of the dragon

    On Tuesday 4 May at 7:30am a car arrived to pick up former Lovells Beijing managing partner Robert Lewis from his house in the Shunyi district of the Chinese capital, a part of town popular with expats. As it weaved its way off the estate and onto the traffic-choked main road leading to the city centre, Lewis thought about what lay ahead for him at AllBright Law Offices, the Chinese law firm where he was about to start his first day's work. His decision to join the firm, where his brief is to overhaul AllBright's structure and expand its Beijing office to match its market-leading offering in Shanghai, is one Lewis has been edging towards for years now, and he maintains it is unrelated to Lovells' recently concluded merger with US firm Hogan & Hartson.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Citigroup names 'golden nine' line-up of UK firms in two-tier EMEA panel

    Citigroup has overhauled its external legal arrangements, creating two new panels of preferred law firms. The banking giant has unveiled new panels of advisers in the Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) region and the US, formalising its previous roster of law firms.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    Wall Street's legal elite stage recovery but fees fall at US top 100

    Wall Street's leading law firms have defied gloomy predictions to stage a notable comeback in 2009, emerging as the top performers among the US's 100 largest law firms. Financial results for 2009 from Legal Week's US sister title The American Lawyer show that the 13 New York firms with profits per equity partner (PEP) of more than $2m (£1.3m) overcame the toughest trading conditions for a generation to raise partner profitability by 3%.

    1 minute read

  • May 19, 2010 |

    No lack of resources - ENRC's legal chief in profile

    While most companies have spent the recession battening down the hatches, the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has been in expansion mode. Last month the FTSE 100 natural resources company, whose main assets are located in Kazakhstan, underlined its intentions to go global by purchasing a 12% stake in Northern Platinum, a South African platinum company. The move follows ENRC's acquisition last year of Camec, a copper and cobalt producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for £584m and prior purchase of 50% stakes in Brazil's BML iron ore project and the Xinjiang Tuoli Taihang Ferro-Alloy ferrochrome operations in China.

    1 minute read