• September 25, 2009 |

    Slaughters and Freshfields lead on Unilever's €1.3bn Sara Lee bid

    Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won key roles on Unilever's €1.275bn (£1.17bn) bid for the personal care division of Sara Lee. The deal, expected to close next year, will see Unilever aqcuire well-known brands such as Radox and Brylcreem

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2009 |

    UBS pushes down on rates after completion of global panel review

    Swiss banking giant UBS has overhauled its roster of preferred legal advisers, with eight firms making the grade. Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, White & Case, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Simmons & Simmons were reappointed, while Herbert Smith and DLA Piper are new appointments to the global panel.

    1 minute read

  • September 22, 2009 |

    Gide adds trio to Vietnam office in international reshuffle

    Gide Loyrette Nouel has moved to build up its Vietnam presence, adding three lawyers to its Ho Chi Minh City office this month. The French firm has relocated Jacques de Servigny to be the new partner-in-charge of the Vietnam practice, which also has an office in Hanoi.

    1 minute read

  • September 18, 2009 |

    Slaughters and Freshfields take roles on major Hong Kong IPOs

    Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are among a number of international law firms to have picked up mandates on two major Hong Kong Stock Exchange listings which closed this week. China's largest pharmaceutical company, Sinopharm, raised HK$8.73bn (£688m), while Metallurgical Corp raised HK$18.2bn (£1.4bn) from the listings, which together dwarfed the initial public offering (IPO) activity to have taken place on the Hong Kong exchange so far this year.

    1 minute read

  • September 18, 2009 |

    Bakers, Lovells and White & Case advise on GM's Opel stake sale

    Baker & McKenzie, White & Case and Lovells are among the firms advising on a deal that will see a Canadian-Russian consortium acquire a 55% stake in GM's Opel auto unit, writes The American Lawyer. The deal, agreed after three months of negotiations, has been lauded by the German government, which is gearing up for elections at the end of this month and is keen to avoid mass layoffs at Opel, which has received billions in government aid in recent months.

    1 minute read

  • September 10, 2009 |

    McDermott set for City private client practice launch with two senior hires

    McDermott Will & Emery is to launch a private client practice in the City through a double partner hire, including LG's former senior partner. Martyn Gowar will join McDermott from Penningtons, where he has been a part-time consultant since April 2008. He was previously a partner with Lawrence Graham (now LG) for 33 years, including a stint as senior partner between 1997 and 2002, and is a consultant on LG's website. Once he joins McDermott, however, he will no longer consult at LG.

    1 minute read

  • September 9, 2009 |

    NCTM recruits from A&O to drive China ambitions

    Italy's NCTM has taken a first step towards launching in China with the hire of Hermes Pazzaglini from Allen & Overy (A&O) in Shanghai. Pazzaglini, who was a senior associate with A&O, has joined the expansive Italian law firm as a salaried partner. He will remain in China and split his time between the mainland and Hong Kong. NCTM does not yet have offices in mainland China.

    1 minute read

  • August 14, 2009 | International Edition

    Bakers London office set for 33% profits drop-off as revenues fall

    Baker & McKenzie's City office looks set to take almost twice the hit on profits per equity partner (PEP) as the rest of the firm, with London PEP expected to have fallen by a third in 2008-09. The international firm's results show that firmwide revenues fell by 3% to $2.11bn (£1.27bn), with PEP falling by 17% to $992,000 (£598,000). However, Bakers expects London turnover to dip by 3.4% to £115.7m, with PEP set to plunge by 33.5% from £572,000 to £380,000.

    1 minute read

  • August 14, 2009 |

    Bakers London office set for 33% profits drop-off as revenues fall

    Baker & McKenzie's City office looks set to take almost twice the hit on profits per equity partner (PEP) as the rest of the firm, with London PEP expected to have fallen by a third in 2008-09. The international firm's results show that firmwide revenues fell by 3% to $2.11bn (£1.27bn), with PEP falling by 17% to $992,000 (£598,000). However, Bakers expects London turnover to dip by 3.4% to £115.7m, with PEP set to plunge by 33.5% from £572,000 to £380,000.

    1 minute read

  • August 4, 2009 |

    Weil Gotshal and Bakers lead on €250m private equity sell-off

    Weil Gotshal & Manges and Baker & McKenzie have taken lead roles on the €250m (£212.2m) private equity disposal of two European food distribution companies. South African trading and distribution company Bidvest is to acquire the Czech Republic's Nowaco and Poland's Farutex from funds associated with JP Morgan, and managed by CCMP Capital Advisors, and from Bancroft Private Equity.

    1 minute read