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  • December 8, 2010 |

    Cleary advises Citigroup on sale of final Treasury stake

    Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is advising Citigroup and its underwriters on a multi-billion dollar stock offering, writes The AmLaw Daily, in a deal that will see the US Government sell its remaining stake in the banking giant. The share sale is expected to put $10.5bn (£6.6bn) in the US Treasury's coffers, while helping Citi move a step closer to independence.

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  • December 8, 2010 |

    Hogan Lovells and Skadden lead on landmark $1.65bn Russia retail deal

    Hogan Lovells and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have taken lead roles on a $1.65bn (£1bn) acquisition by one of Russia's largest retailers. X5 Retail Group, the retail branch of financial-industrial conglomerate Alfa Group, has acquired rival retail chain Kopeyka in a deal expected to close later this month. Hogan Lovells advised X5 with a team led by Moscow managing partner and corporate head Oxana Balayan (pictured) and senior M&A counsel Richard Cowie. London tax partner Karen Hughes also advised on the deal.

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  • December 7, 2010 |

    Young In-House Lawyer of the Year

    Shareen Gault has helped steer the Student Loans Company (SLC) through an intensely difficult period. She joined SLC as a solicitor in 2008 and was promoted to legal and compliance manager a year later at the age of 28. Throughout this year she has been helping put the SLC on a firmer footing after it hit the headlines in 2009 for failing to process thousands of applications for loans on time.

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  • 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.

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  • November 10, 2010 |

    Morgan Lewis backtracks on plans to ditch lockstep pay model

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius has chosen to retain the lockstep pay model for its associates, sixteen months after announcing plans to move to a merit-based system, reports The Am Law Daily. Firm chairman Francis Milone last week informed associates that they will receive base salaries in 2011 equal to the market rate for their class year. The firm will also maintain its bonus pool, as those payments have always been merit-based.

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  • November 9, 2010 |

    In-house innovation in the post-crisis world

    With compliance and risk management having soared up the agenda since the financial crisis, in-house lawyers have rarely been so in demand. At the same time, in a tough economic climate, rarely have they been forced to operate under such cost pressures. It was this paradox around which the debate centred at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Forum Europe, held in September at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire.

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  • November 8, 2010 |

    Freshfields and A&O handle HSBC's £2.1bn private equity rail sale

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy (A&O) are advising on a £2.1bn deal that will see HSBC sell its train-leasing business Eversholt Rail Group to a private equity consortium, reports The Am Law Daily. The consortium - which comprises 3i Group, Star Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley's infrastructure group - is being advised by an A&O team led by banking partner Jonathan Bevan and corporate partner Susan Howard. A&O also advised on the 2008 financing and acquisition of Angel Trains by a consortium of investors from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

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  • 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.

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  • October 28, 2010 |

    SNR Denton leads as JP Morgan takes majority stake in $6bn Brazil hedge fund

    SNR Denton has won a lead role on a major South American deal which has seen JP Morgan step up its commitment to emerging markets by taking a majority stake in a $6bn (£4bn) Brazilian hedge fund. Highbridge Capital Management, an asset management firm owned by JP Morgan, yesterday (27 October) announced the purchase of a 55% stake in hedge fund and private equity firm Gavea, which is headed up by Brazil's former central bank chief, Arminio Fraga.

    1 minute read

  • October 26, 2010 |

    A&O and Herbert Smith lead as Royal Bank of Canada acquires asset manager for £963m

    Allen & Overy (A&O) and Herbert Smith have advised on Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) £963m acquisition of London-based asset manager BlueBay. Herbert Smith advised BlueBay on the deal, which will see the company continue to operate independently from its new owner, as well as retaining investment autonomy.

    1 minute read