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  • June 5, 2009 |

    Elite firms take lead roles on Rio's $15bn rights issue and BHP JV

    Linklaters, Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith have all advised on Rio Tinto's $15.2bn (£9.5bn) rights issue and joint venture with one-time merger partner BHP Billiton. The roles come in the wake of this week's collapse of Rio's $19.5bn (£12.1bn) deal with Chinese resource giant Chinalco, with Rio opting against a tie-up after shareholder concerns that the deal was not in the best interests of the mining company.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2009 |

    E-disclosure: Lay your cards on the table

    Determining proportionality in litigation has long been a bit of a string-measuring exercise. However, the gap between opposing parties has become wider than ever in recent years as the move from paper to electronic business documents has resulted in an explosion of document volume involved in discovery exercises. Now, it seems, the UK courts are catching up with the issue.

    1 minute read

  • June 4, 2009 |

    CC and Ashurst lead on property group's £220m IPO

    Clifford Chance (CC) and Ashurst have won roles on Europe's largest initial public offering (IPO) of 2009 – the £220m listing of Max Property Group. CC took the lead for Max Property Group, which last week listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and the Channel Islands stock exchange (CISX). Equity capital markets partner Simon Thomas and corporate partner Adrian Levy led the CC team.

    1 minute read

  • June 2, 2009 |

    Shearman leads on €3bn Danone rights issue

    Shearman & Sterling and Bredin Prat have taken lead roles on French dairy and water company Danone's €3bn (£2.6bn) rights issue. The company, whose flagship products include Evian, Activia and Actimel, launched a public offering in France and Switzerland yesterday (1 June) accompanied by an international private placement in a bid to reduce its debt.

    1 minute read

  • May 28, 2009 |

    Lloyds cements in-house legal team after 2008 HBOS merger

    Lloyds Banking Group has finalised the structure of its in-house legal team after its 2008 takeover of UK's banking group HBOS.The shake up sees four of HBOS' legal heads take on management roles at the merged bank, while four of Lloyds' general counsel (GC) will see their roles expanded to cover the enlarged group.

    1 minute read

  • May 27, 2009 |

    Canada: Canada's sisters in law

    Falling in the shadow of the vast North American market, it would be fair to say that the Canadian legal market does not typically generate much foreign press coverage. Major US firms take little heed of their conservative Canadian neighbours, while scant attention is paid by the UK and European legal industries.

    1 minute read

  • May 27, 2009 |

    500 in-housers join LW LinkedIn group

    Legal Week has attracted more than 500 members to its newly-launched LinkedIn group for in-house lawyers. The group, which was set up last month, was established to enable lawyers with an interest in the in-house world to exchange information and forge working relationships on the popular business networking site.More than 1,000 individuals have requested membership of the group, which is currently restricted to in-house lawyers.

    1 minute read

  • May 21, 2009 |

    Latham and MoFo score leads on Hong Kong aluminium IPO

    Latham & Watkins and Morrison & Foerster have taken leading roles on a high-profile Asian initial public offering (IPO) as a run of major deals hit the region. The two firms are advising on the Hong Kong float of aluminium maker China Zhongwang. Latham Hong Kong partner David Zhang led representation of China Zhonwang in its international float of shares valued at around $1.2bn (£800m). Morrison & Foerster represented the lead underwriters on the deal, CITIC Securities, JP Morgan, Macquarie Capital Securities and UBS with a team including partners Ven Tan, Paul Boltz, and Xiaohu Ma. It is the largest IPO in the region so far this year.

    1 minute read

  • May 20, 2009 |

    Linklaters advises on new trading platform

    Linklaters has advised on the creation of a joint venture between three leading banks to bring a new commodities trading platform to market. The platform, dubbed 'Source', has been set up through a joint venture between Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as a specialist provider of Exchange Traded Products.

    1 minute read

  • May 20, 2009 |

    CC, Slaughters and Davis Polk take on top roles on £510m Taylor Wimpey fundraising

    Clifford Chance (CC), Slaughter and May and Davis Polk & Wardwell have all won roles advising on troubled house builder Taylor Wimpey's £510m fundraising. The fully underwritten placing, which is subject to shareholder approval this month, will cut the company's debt by around one-third. Slaughters reprised its role for regular client Taylor Wimpey, with corporate partner Jeff Twentyman leading the firm's team. Davis Polk advised the house-builder on US aspects, with London-based corporate partner Nigel Wilson advising.

    1 minute read