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  • October 30, 2013 |

    Skadden and O'Melveny act on rare US IPO for 'China's Craigslist'

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and O'Melveny & Myers are advising on the US initial public offering (IPO) of China's version of Craigslist, 58.com. The online marketplace – which lists jobs, housing and used goods – is hoping to raise up to $165m (£102m) with the sale of 11 million shares each priced $13-$15 (£8-£9.30) on the New York Stock Exchange.

    1 minute read

  • October 27, 2013 |

    Chelsea FC looks to net first in-house legal adviser

    Chelsea Football Club is set to hire its first in-house lawyer, following the example of other top clubs. Unlike a number of its Premier League rivals- including Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool - Chelsea currently does not have any dedicated lawyers employed by the club.

    1 minute read

  • October 25, 2013 |

    CC and Anjarwalla take top prizes at celebration of Africa legal excellence

    Clifford Chance scooped the headline International Law Firm of the Year award at the inaugural African Legal Awards in Johannesburg last night. The magic circle firm was one of four international firms to secure awards at the sell-out event, which was attended by 200 private practice and in-house lawyers and hosted by Legal Week in association with the Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa (CLASA).

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2013 |

    Skadden and Latham cash in on casino bond issue

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has acted opposite Latham & Watkins to advise on casino company Wynn Macau's $600m (£371m) bond issuance. Wynn Macau, a subsidiary of casino developer Wynn Resorts, issued the eight-year bonds at 5.25% interest to US investors in the hope of boosting liquidity as it seeks to raise its profile. The Skadden team advised Wynn on US and Hong Kong law, led by Hong Kong corporate partners Alan Schiffman and Alec Tracy with assistance from lawyers in Washington DC, Sydney and New York. Maples and Calder advised Wynn on Cayman Islands law.

    1 minute read

  • October 17, 2013 |

    The next big thing – regulation's booming popularity in legal business

    September 2007. A month Ian McDonald remembers well. "My banking and finance colleague Kevin Hawken came to see me and said: 'What do you know about SIVs [structured investment vehicles]?'" recalls McDonald, London head of commercial dispute resolution at Mayer Brown. "I thought it was a kitchen gadget. I really had no idea – but that is part of the challenge as litigators." His ignorance was short-lived. Mayer Brown's litigators were among the first called upon to help restructure SIVs – complex financial products once worth an estimated $400bn (£247.3bn) – when the 2007 credit crunch halted the short-term funding that underpinned them. For McDonald and his colleagues, it marked the start of busy few years.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2013 |

    Man on a mission – Yahoo!'s Asia-Pacific GC has a lot on his plate keeping up with his acquisitive CEO

    Working in the legal team of one of the world's largest internet companies, Stephen Man is rarely at a loose end. The Canadian-born father of two, who was appointed Asia-Pacific general counsel for Yahoo! in 2011 after working with the company for five years, says his biggest challenge in the past 12 months has been keeping pace with the growth and rapidly evolving vision of the company since Marissa Mayer was made CEO last summer. Despite his hectic schedule, Man says he is – perhaps surprisingly – a strong advocate of lawyers having a work-life balance. Maybe it is one of the quirks of working for an internet company, but, when he's not travelling or on a call, colleagues say he can be found playing his guitar in his office (though he claims to be no more than a beginner). He predicts there will be even more work for Yahoo!'s legal team in Asia now that the company has a clear strategy for how it wants to expand. This is a departure from previous years, he says, because of the changes in management.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2013 |

    Green shoots of recovery in Asia-Pacific as high deal flow in Q3 2013 props up sluggish year

    While Europe and the US have experienced a bounce in M&A activity, Asia has struggled to break free from three consecutive years of reduced deal flow. Figures from Mergermarket at the close of the third quarter showed that the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan witnessed $259.7bn (£162bn) worth of deals during the first three quarters of 2013.

    1 minute read

  • October 10, 2013 |

    Top firms set to do battle at 2013 British Legal Awards

    Linklaters is leading the way in nominations for the top practice awards as the shortlist for the 2013 British Legal Awards has been unveiled. The magic circle has nominations M&A, banking, financing or restructuring, and commercial team of the year categories. However, it missed out on the law firm of the year shortlist.

    1 minute read

  • September 25, 2013 |

    Shearman and Skadden lead on $4.7bn bid to acquire BlackBerry

    Shearman & Sterling and Canadian firm McCarthy Tetrault are advising Fairfax Financial on its $4.7bn (£2.9bn) offer for struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry. Fairfax, BlackBerry's largest shareholder with a stake of approximately 10%, is offering $9 a share in cash to acquire the remaining shares in the firm, which is being advised by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Canada's Torys.

    1 minute read

  • September 24, 2013 |

    Tencent appoints Paul Weiss and Bakers for $448m Sogou deal

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Baker & McKenzie have advised as the owner of WeChat, Tencent Holdings, has taken a 35.6% stake in Chinese search engine Sogou for $448m. The deal, which is the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions among Chinese internet companies, will see the two businesses jointly develop and cross-promote their products, with Sogou Pinyin and Sogou Search gaining access to the user base of Tencent's online and mobile social communities.

    1 minute read