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  • February 14, 2013 |

    Davis Polk, Kirkland lead on Warren Buffett's $28bn Heinz acquisition

    Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis are among a line-up of US firms scoring roles on the $28bn (£18bn) acquisition of food giant Heinz by an investment consortium. The deal, which is believed to be the biggest ever acquisition in the food industry and has been approved by Heinz's board of directors, will see the Pittsburgh company acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by US billionaire Warren Buffett, and 3G Capital.

    1 minute read

  • February 14, 2013 |

    Norton Rose, CC and Ashurst among firms on £550m Crest Nicholson IPO

    Norton Rose, Clifford Chance (CC) and Ashurst have landed key roles on the first major domestic initial public offering (IPO) of 2013, as UK housebuilder Crest Nicholson returns to the stock market. The IPO values Crest at around £553m, with the offer comprising a primary tranche raising £59m for the company and a secondary offering raising £169m through the sale by shareholders including Deutsche Bank and investment manager Varde.

    1 minute read

  • February 14, 2013 |

    Clifford Chance and Linklaters reveal spring trainee retention rates

    Magic circle duo Clifford Chance (CC) and Linklaters have posted their retention results for their spring qualifying trainees, with the former seeing a marginal rise in its intake. CC has offered 55 of its 66 trainees a role at the firm. Of those, 54 accepted a position to become newly qualified (NQ) lawyers, resulting in a retention rate of 82%. The results are up on the same point last year, when the magic circle firm reta

    1 minute read

  • February 8, 2013 |

    Rules of the game - the lawyers making their mark in the sports sector

    For decades, sport has continued to confound the laws of economic gravity that seem to so often drag other industries back down to earth. Year after year, broadcasting rights escalate – as do sponsorship deals – and ticket prices jauntily rise upwards while the financial fortunes of the millions of fans and spectators that turn out in sunshine and rain have generally stagnated or slumped during the recession. In short, sport is big business, and lawyers agree that it is a profitable segment of the legal services market to be involved in.

    1 minute read

  • February 4, 2013 |

    Slaughters, Simpson Thacher among firms on $398m Chinalco HK listing

    Slaughter and May, Paul Hastings and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are among a raft of firms to have advised on the $398m (£253m) Hong Kong initial public offering of Chinalco Mining Corporation International. The company, a subsidiary of Chinalco, China's biggest producer of aluminium, is raising cash to help fund a copper mining project in Peru.

    1 minute read

  • February 4, 2013 |

    Slaughters and Orrick switch on for lead roles as ITV buys London HQ

    Slaughter and May and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe have advised on ITV's £56m acquisition of the freehold on London Television Centre, the company's South Bank headquarters and studios. Slaughters advised long-term client ITV on the deal, which saw the company acquire the site from Coal Pension Properties (CPP). The transaction frees ITV from a 56-year lease on the 22-storey tower and studio complex which was purpose built in the early 1970s for London Weekend Television.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Dealmaker: Paul Chow

    The Davis Polk & Wardwell heavyweight reflects on Asia's 2013 prospects, Slaughter and May and sartorial panic

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Freshfields, BLP and Slaughters among line-up on €1.8bn renewables refinancing

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), Clifford Chance (CC) and Slaughter and May have lined up on the €1.8bn (£1.4bn) refinancing of renewable energy company Vestas Wind Systems. The deal, one of the biggest European refinancing mandates of recent months, will allow Vestas to continue as the world's largest manufacturer, installer and servicer of wind turbines.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Growing list of top UK law firms move to cut staff in 2013

    With three major law firms announcing sizeable job cuts before the end of January, 2013 already looks near certain to be marked by a fresh run of legal redundancies as the UK economy flirts with a triple-dip recession. As Legal Week went to press, Clyde & Co and Olswang had also indicated that they may make a small number of redundancies, potentially adding to the roll call of major law firms making cuts in the past three months. Ominously, news also emerged on Wednesday (30 January) that Manchester firm Cobbetts was set to enter administration.

    1 minute read

  • January 31, 2013 |

    Down but not out – global firms still eye Japan success despite a tidal wave of economic strife

    When the Japanese Government allowed foreign law firms to open offices in the country in 1987 to provide international advice, UK and US advisers started piling onto the bustling streets of Tokyo, then lured by the presence of the world's biggest banks and insurance companies as well as its booming technology and automobile industries.

    1 minute read