Munich, March 22, 2016 – Baker & McKenzie advised CRX Markets AG, Munich, on the structuring and implementation of a supply chain finance program for the Vattenfall group. The program was launched in close cooperation between CRX Markets AG and Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen.

The program comprises the German business of the Vattenfall group and extends to 20 subsidiaries of the group. The program enables suppliers to sell their accounts receivable from the Vattenfall subsidiaries concerned at favorable conditions before maturity.

A team of international lawyers from Wikborg Rein have successfully acted as counsel to ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (ICBCL) in the sale and leaseback transaction with Petrobras for the semi-submersible drilling rig “Petrobras-52” located at the Roncador field in the Campos Basin close to Rio de Janeiro.

The 10 years sale- and leaseback transaction worth $1 billion forms part of the cooperation agreement which was signed between ICBC and Petrobras during the Chinese Prime Minister’s visit to Brazil in May 2015.

Slaughter and May, working as a team with Cleary, Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, advised Abbey National Treasury Services plc in relation to the issue of US$ 2,000,000,000 notes under its SEC registered US shelf facility.

The issue, announced on 14 March 2015, comprises US$ 1,650,000,000 2.500% notes due 2019 and US$ 350,000,000 floating rate notes due 2019.

Allen & Overy said today the EUR317 million Kingfisher CMBS transaction from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the first in Europe this year, may pave the way for other deals to follow in 2016.

The securitisation is backed by a single floating rate loan extended to Blackstone to fund the acquisition of a portfolio of German retail properties. DIY retail space accounts for the majority of the property portfolio, but other assets include supermarkets, shopping centres and retail warehouses. The transaction comprises six debt tranches and has a maturity date of November 2026.

On 16 March 2016 ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ("ABN AMRO"), became the first non-Taiwan issuer to successfully enter the Formosa market with Tier 2 funding, pricing a USD300 million 15-year bullet. It is the first time that a foreign financial institution has entered the onshore Taiwanese market with such a debt issue, with Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC Bank acting as the joint lead managers of the debut deal. This debut capital issuance is also ABN AMRO's first Tier 2 capital raising from the Asian markets since 2012.

Schoenherr Prague has advised EVO Payments International, a world leading integrated payments processor and acquirer for merchants, independent sales organisations, financial institutions, government organisations, and multinational corporations located throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, on the creation of a payment card acceptance alliance with Raiffeisenbank in the Czech Republic.

The European law firm Noerr advised Bremer Kreditbank AG (BKB Bank) on the purchase of Bankhaus Neelmeyer, also based in Bremen. The seller is UniCredit Bank AG. A team led by corporate partner Prof. Dr. Christian Pleister acted for Bremer Kreditbank in the transaction.

Watson Farley and Williams LLP (“WFW”) in London acted for Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“Crédit Agricole”) in relation to a US$250m loan facility for d’Amico International Shipping. The loan facility was signed on 14 March 2016.  Mandated Lead Arrangers are Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Nordea Bank AB, London Branch, ING Bank N.V., London Branch and Banca IMI S.P.A.

King & Wood Mallesons has advised Bank of Qingdao Co., LTD. (Bank of Qingdao), by acting as the issuer’s legal counsel, on its successful issuance of  "2016-1 Green Bond of Bank of Qingdao". The issuing scale of the Green Bond is a total of RMB 4 billion, which is the first ever issuance of Green Bond among domestic City Commercial Banks. This is the second innovative leading project with deep impact to the market that KWM supported Bank of Qingdao after the first US$607 million listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Simmons & Simmons have advised British Business Financial Services Ltd, a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc (the British Business Bank), in its consultancy role for HM Treasury under The Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations 2015 (the ‘Regulations’).