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  • April 21, 2010 |

    Hammonds leads on £100m sale of Cath Kidston shares

    Hammonds has won a lead role advising on the £100m sale of a majority stake in luxury retailer Cath Kidston to private equity house TA Associates. The deal, which closed at the end of last month (30 March), saw corporate partner and client relationship manager Nick Allen advise the shareholders of Cath Kidston on the sale following a tender process involving a number of firms.

    1 minute read

  • April 21, 2010 |

    Eversheds and NCTM target China with office launches

    Eversheds and NCTM are set to launch new offices in China as more international law firms target the rich potential of the country's legal market. Italy's NCTM plans to launch in Shanghai this summer, with the firm's licence application due to be approved in the coming months. The launch will mark the Milan-based firm's first office opening outside of Europe, coming alongside its existing bases in Italy, London and Brussels.

    1 minute read

  • April 19, 2010 |

    The top-rated Indian TV show about corporate lawyers - really

    "Ah, Friday night . Time to kick back and relax. Hey, The Firm is on. Corporate lawyers talking about corporate law. Great show. Tonight, Jeff Smith of Cravath Swaine & Moore is talking about SEC rules on climate change disclosure? Excellent." That imaginary train of thought doesn't come from The Twilight Zone . It's from India, where The Firm: Corporate Law in India , airing on TV18, is all the rage.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2010 |

    Tories reject takeover reform but anger City with immigration cap plan

    The Conservative Party has rejected calls to restrict foreign takeovers but will push ahead with moves to curb the level of foreign workers in the UK, as the party unveils its election agenda. In one of the measures most closely watched by City advisers, shadow business secretary Ken Clarke rejected Labour proposals to raise the threshold to secure shareholder approval for corporate takeovers and moves to cut voting rights of short-term shareholders such as hedge funds.

    1 minute read

  • April 14, 2010 |

    Sweden: It all goes around again

    Sweden's lawyers are experiencing a sense of deja vu, with the financial crisis and the general anxiety it brought about in the Swedish market causing lawyers to reminisce about the country's trouble in the early 90s. The current financial crisis saw the end of Scandinavia's M&A boom; initial public offerings (IPO) and large transactions - in particular private equity deals - were extremely rare.

    1 minute read

  • April 12, 2010 |

    Centrica advisers on alert as energy giant floats first-ever legal panel

    Centrica is set to kick off a tender process to create its first legal panel as the energy giant moves to formalise its relationships with external legal providers. Early-stage discussions this month have seen Centrica float the idea of creating a panel of preferred legal providers. In the past, the company has worked with a variety of firms, including Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Herbert Smith, Eversheds, Linklaters and Slaughter and May.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2010 |

    FSA sustains City crackdown with seven charged for insider dealing

    The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has charged seven people in relation to alleged insider dealing in the latest crackdown on market abuse by the City watchdog. The group faces charges on 13 counts of insider trading following a 21-month investigation which relates to dealing in shares of 12 companies, including Morgan Crucible, Misys, Reuters and Enodis, between 2006 and 2008. According to the FSA, activity during the two-year period involved alleged unlawful profits of around £2.5m.

    1 minute read

  • April 1, 2010 |

    Linklaters M&A partner joins Ashurst in Stockholm

    Linklaters has lost another partner from its Stockholm office, with M&A specialist Martin Boerresen set to join Ashurst in the Swedish capital. Boerresen will join Ashurst's M&A and corporate practice in Stockholm on 1 May.

    1 minute read

  • March 31, 2010 |

    Ashurst hires regulatory partner to expand US practice

    Ashurst has moved to expand its Washington DC practice with its first lateral hire in the US since its high-profile American launch last year. Margaret Sheehan is set to join Ashurst after resigning from US law firm Alston & Bird. Sheehan has worked as a partner at Alston since 1996 in the firm's financial services and products department and will join Ashurst as a partner in its financial regulation group.

    1 minute read

  • March 30, 2010 |

    Dechert signs up Ashurst corporate partner in boost for City base

    Dechert is set to boost its UK corporate and securities practice with the hire of Jonathan Angell from Ashurst. Angell will join the US law firm's London arm next week, having been a partner at Ashurst since 2001.

    1 minute read