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  • November 22, 2010 |

    Slaughters and Herbert Smith advise on £1.7bn food company merger

    Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have taken roles on the merger of Northern Foods and Greencore Group, two food companies seeking to cut costs by combining operations, reports The Am Law Daily. The new company, called Essenta Foods, will be one of the largest frozen and prepared foods providers in the UK with combined sales of £1.7bn.

    1 minute read

  • November 22, 2010 |

    Davis Polk hires second magic circle Beijing chief for Hong Kong office

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has recruited Linklaters' Beijing head for its burgeoning Hong Kong law practice, marking the US firm's second recent senior magic circle hire, reports The Am Law Daily. The New York-based firm has announced that Paul Chow is set join its Hong Kong office next May, following the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Beijing chief Antony Dapiran. Chow is expected to continue to work on client matters until his departure. Davis Polk has generally been regarded as conservative when it comes to recruiting lateral partners, but the US firm has moved aggressively to assemble a Hong Kong law group in recent months.

    1 minute read

  • November 19, 2010 |

    Linklaters takes role for GM investor as car maker launches $23bn IPO

    Linklaters and Jenner & Block have won roles as General Motors this week increased the number of shares on offer in its landmark initial public offering (IPO), reports The Am Law Daily. The car maker, which is being advised by US firm Jenner, has responded to strong market demand by expanding the IPO by 31%, helping the company to raise $23.1bn (£14.4bn) in what could be the largest IPO ever.

    1 minute read

  • November 19, 2010 |

    Nixon Peabody enters HK with local alliance

    Top 100 US firm Nixon Peabody has established an office in Hong Kong through an alliance with local practice Cheng Wong Lam & Partners, reports The Am Law Daily. The affiliation will be known as Nixon Peabody in association with Cheng Wong Lam & Partners, the firms announced this week.

    1 minute read

  • November 2, 2010 |

    More worlds to conquer - Slaughters and the emerging economies

    Thirteen years after the firm moved to first publicly articulate its global outlook, the international strategy of Slaughter and May continues to spark intense debate among the upper reaches of the global legal market. Shunning the committed international expansion of its magic circle rivals in the 1990s, Slaughters, under then senior partner Giles Henderson, outlined a vision of elite independent law firms co-operating globally in a cover feature for Commercial Lawyer. Though the phrase was never used, it was the system that came to be widely known, somewhat incongruously, as 'best friends', a model built around a core of allied firms in Europe.

    1 minute read

  • October 28, 2010 |

    Dealmaker: Alex Bafi

    Herbert Smith's corporate veteran on duff DIY skills and why ECM deals still get the heart pumping...

    1 minute read

  • October 20, 2010 |

    US duo take top roles on Danish jewellery retailer's €1.5bn listing

    Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have taken lead roles on the €1.5bn (£1.3bn) initial public offering (IPO) of Danish jewellery maker Pandora. Davis Polk advised the jewellery company on its listing, fielding a team led by London corporate partner John Meade. Latham, meanwhile, advised the financial sponsors on the deal, which completed earlier this month on Copenhagen's NASDAQ OMX exchange.

    1 minute read

  • October 1, 2010 |

    US trio reprise roles as AIG confirms bailout repayment plan

    Davis Polk & Wardwell, Sullivan & Cromwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have taken roles as AIG finalises plans to repay the US government, reports The Am Law Daily. The three law firms, which played leading roles crafting the first of many AIG bailout provisions were on hand again, two years later, when the government and the limping insurer finally worked out a complex plan to sever ties, according to lawyers who worked on the deal.

    1 minute read

  • September 28, 2010 |

    Gibson Dunn, Debevoise advise as Vivendi sells $2bn NBCU stake to GE

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Debevoise & Plimpton have taken roles as French media conglomerate Vivendi has sold a portion of its stake in NBC Universal to General Electric (GE) for $2bn (£1.3bn), reports AmLaw Daily.

    1 minute read

  • September 22, 2010 |

    Number of US lawyers applying to practice HK law quadruples in two years

    The number of US lawyers applying to practice local law in Hong Kong has quadrupled over the past two years as the region becomes a hot spot for companies listing on its stock exchange. Figures from the Hong Kong Law Society show that 64 US lawyers took the Hong Kong overseas lawyers qualification examination (QLQE) exam last year compared to 14 in 2008, and the trend looks set to continue with an estimated 65 having taken the exam so far in 2010.

    1 minute read