Simpson Thacher represented a finance subsidiary of Cognita in connection with a Regulation S offering of £50 million in aggregate principal amount of its 7.75% Senior Notes due 2021. The transaction closed on May 8, 2017. The net proceeds of the offering were used to repay amounts under Cognita’s revolving credit facility, with the remaining amounts to be used for general corporate purposes.

Cognita is a leading global operator of private-pay K-12 schools. As of February 28, 2017, it operated 66 schools across Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Allen & Overy advised the book running lead managers on the INR49.06 billion (approximately USD750 million) qualified institutions placement (QIP) issue of equity shares by leading private bank YES Bank Limited, the largest-ever private sector QIP from India. The offering of shares was also made into the United States under an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

The FinTech startup solarisBank, which was established in 2016, secures growth financing of EUR 26.3 m.

The investors in the series A financing round include Bertelsmann financial services subsidiary Arvato Financial Solutions and the Japanese finance conglomerate, SBI Group. The previous investors Finleap, Hegus and Yabeo will also continue to be investors. At the start of the venture in 2016, the company had already collected EUR 12.2 m from investors.

Charles Russell Speechlys has advised Bahrain Middle East Bank B.S.C. (“BMB”), a wholesale bank listed on the Bahrain Bourse, in relation to the voluntary takeover bid by its largest current shareholder.

The takeover of BMB is the first takeover involving a bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain since 2014.

Ritchie Skelding, CEO at BMB, commented:

"Charles Russell Speechlys provided pragmatic, timely and accurate support on the acquisition of the bank in a complex regulatory environment without losing sight of our commercial objectives".

Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised a group of European Banks convened by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the development of a practical toolkit to help European financial institutions fight human trafficking using data.

The team included partner Dan Hudson, consultant Gillian Fairfield, senior associates Oliver Elgie, James Bewley, David Knott, Celina McGregor, Adam McWilliams and Phoebe McLarty, associates Rebecca Perlman and Joseph Duggin and senior Pro Bono lawyer Marion Edge.

Hannes Snellman acted as counsel to a J.P. Morgan Asset Management fund in its disposal of four office properties to Alma Property Partners I AB in the Keilaniemi business district of Espoo, Finland. The properties have approximately 24,500 sqm of leasable area.

Tapio Teräkivi, Maria Neovius, Heikki Vesikansa, Harri Vehviläinen, Katja Heikkinen, Ninja Heikkilä, Viivu Kilkku and Niina Saranen comprised our core team in Helsinki.

Clifford Chance Amsterdam advised J.P. Morgan Securities plc, acting as Sole Bookrunner on the offering and sale of approximately 8.7 million shares in the capital of the Euronext listed insurance and asset management company NN Group N.V. ("NN Group") by the Dutch non-profit foundation Stichting Fonds NutsOhra ("FNO") through an accelerated bookbuilding process. Following the transaction, FNO no longer has a remaining ownership interest in NN Group. The sold NN Group shares were priced at EUR 30.00, resulting in EUR 262.5 million gross proceeds for FNO.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited and the Korea Development Bank in respect of two senior credit facilities totalling US$54 million. The senior credit facilities are backed by two junior credit facilities totalling US$22 million provided by NTT Finance Corporation with equity input from SBI MONEY PLAZA Co., Ltd. (SBIMP). The purpose of the credit facilities is to finance two pure car and truck carriers, which are on charter to a car carrier operator under the flag of the Republic of Panama.

Shearman & Sterling advised Piraeus Bank S.A., the largest financial group in Greece by assets, loans and deposits, on a series of bond exchange transactions with the European Financial Stability Facility (“EFSF”) and the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”). This comprised of floating rate notes, potentially at a total face value of €13.1 billion, to be exchanged over a period of approximately one and a half years.

Davis Polk advised ORIX Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries, as borrowers, in connection with a $400 million unsecured syndicated revolving credit facility. The facility is available for general corporate and working capital purposes.

ORIX, an integrated financial services group, provides a broad range of commercial and consumer finance products and services to corporate and retail customers in Japan and overseas.