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  • September 23, 2009 |

    Herbert Smith advises Yell on £500m fundraising

    Herbert Smith has landed a role advising longstanding client Yell Group as it prepares to raise £500m from shareholders. London corporate partner Ben Ward is advising the company, which announced today (23 September) that it hopes to sell new shares to raise the funds and lower its debt. It has not yet specified how it intends to raise the £500m.

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2009 |

    Freshfields eclipses rivals in German M&A rankings

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has dominated the German M&A market over the past three years, according to data from Mergermarket. Figures show the magic circle firm advised on nearly 40% more German M&A deals over the past three years than its nearest rival, with roles on 278 deals since 14 September 2006. This compares with second-placed Clifford Chance (CC) on 199 deals and third-placed CMS on 178 transactions.

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2009 |

    Renewable energy: Critical mass

    "The nuclear industry was for many years not very glamorous in this country, to say the least," recalls Amec Nuclear legal director Kevin Smith. "Now, though, it has suddenly become fashionable," he continues, "with law firms suddenly claiming they have got a nuclear law department". The shift in attitude began in 2003, counter-intuitively with the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which subsequently opened up the decommissioning of various ageing nuclear plants, including Sellafield, to private companies. Around this time the Government's commitment to reduce its carbon emission levels, agreed under the Kyoto Protocol, came into force.

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2009 |

    CC and Weil Gotshal land roles on $2.6bn Orangina Schweppes bid

    Clifford Chance (CC) and Weil Gotshal & Manges have taken lead roles on Japanese drinks company Suntory's offer to buy Orangina Schweppes Group from two high-profile private equity funds, Lion Capital Holdings and the Blackstone Group. Weil Gotshal is advising Blackstone and Lion Capital, which purchased Orangina from Cadbury in 2006 for $2.1bn (£1.3bn). London office managing partner Mike Francies is leading the firm's team on the deal.

    1 minute read

  • September 23, 2009 |

    Turmoil jades lawyers' view of bankers

    City partners remain ambivalent about the influence of the banking sector on the legal profession, with many lawyers' view of bankers being affected by the financial crisis. The latest Legal Week Big Question survey shows that partners are divided about both how the banking sector should be regulated and the influence of banks on law firms.

    1 minute read

  • September 21, 2009 |

    Nabarro and Lovells head up Land Securities' £210m Bullring stake sale

    Nabarro and Lovells have taken lead roles on Land Securities' £210m sell-off of its stake in the Birmingham Bullring to an Australian Government investment fund. The purchase means that The Future Fund - an independently managed sovereign wealth fund - now holds a third of the Bullring alongside Henderson Global Investors and Hammerson.

    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 17, 2009 |

    Slaughters and Linklaters take lead roles on $12bn Barclays debt sell-off

    Slaughter and May and Linklaters are among a host of top firms advising as a group of former Barclays bankers set up an offshore company to manage $12.3bn (£7.4bn) of the bank's most toxic debt. In addition to the magic circle duo, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Sullivan & Cromwell and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft have all won roles in the creation of Protium Finance, a new hedge fund registered in the Cayman Islands.

    1 minute read

  • September 16, 2009 | International Edition

    Take your chances

    After dominating the 1990s, Clifford Chance has weathered a turbulent decade and a brutal financial year. Georgina Stanley assesses if the firm can regain its former glory

    1 minute read

  • September 16, 2009 |

    Take your chances

    After dominating the 1990s, Clifford Chance has weathered a turbulent decade and a brutal financial year. Georgina Stanley assesses if the firm can regain its former glory

    1 minute read