Sidley has advised the underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, in connection with Morgan Stanley’s SEC-registered offering of €1.5 billion aggregate principal amount of euro fixed rate senior registered notes due 2024. The transaction settled on March 11, 2016.

The multi-office Sidley team included partners Aryeh Zarchan and Michael Kohler, securities associates Alex Csordas and Carol Liu, securities partner David Howe and tax partner Nicholas Brown.

Shearman & Sterling advised BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Crédit Suisse International, Natixis and Société Générale, as mandated arrangers and underwriters, on the €450 million senior financing for the acquisition of French hotel group B&B Hotels by private equity firm PAI Partners. B&B Hotels was acquired by PAI Partners from its current owners, private equity firm Carlyle and certain managers of the group.

Shearman & Sterling advised Société Générale on its acquisition of Kleinwort Benson Bank Limited and Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands Holdings Limited, the UK and Channel Islands’ wealth management business of BHF Kleinwort Benson Group S.A., a company recently acquired by Oddo & Cie. 

Shearman & Sterling advised ING Bank, Lloyds Bank and Santander UK as mandated lead arrangers in connection with their provision of an all-senior facility to Cinven in connection with its acquisition of the UK-based shoe retailer Kurt Geiger from Sycamore Partners.

Established in 1963, the Kurt Geiger group operates over 80 stores globally and 240 concessions including Harrods, Selfridges and House of Fraser.

Osborne Clarke has advised Investec Bank plc in its capacity as Nominated Adviser and sole bookrunner on the successful AIM IPO of leading Robotic Process Automation software business, Blue Prism Group plc.

The IPO, which priced this morning, will raise £21 million for the company and the selling shareholders, valuing Blue Prism at £48.5 million. Admission and commencement of dealings will take place on Friday, 18 March 2016.

The Osborne Clarke team was led by ECM Partner Jonathan King, assisted by senior associate Jake Turcan.

Linklaters was pleased to advise United Overseas Bank Limited on the inaugural issue of its €500,000,000 covered bond due in 2021.

“This significant covered bond issuance is yet another demonstration of Linklaters’ expertise in innovative and multi-jurisdictional deals”, said Kevin Wong, Partner, Linklaters Singapore.

Mr Wong said the covered bond was issued under the US $8,000,000,000 Global Covered Bond Programme of United Overseas Bank Limited.

White & Case LLP has advised Yapi Kredi, Turkey's fourth largest private bank, on the Rule 144A/Regulation S issue of US$500 million, 8.5 percent Basel III-compliant fixed rate resettable Tier 2 Notes due 2026.

"Our cross-border deal team in London and Istanbul supported our long-standing client, Yapi Kredi, in bringing this transaction to a successful conclusion despite a highly volatile market environment," said London-based White & Case partner Doron Loewinger, who led the Firm's deal team.

White & Case LLP has advised the commercial lenders, Islamic financiers and Export-Import Bank of the United States on the refinancing of the Riyadh PP11 Independent Power Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

PP11 is a gas-fired independent power project which achieved commercial operation in 2013. The refinancing of the international commercial bank facility and Islamic finance facilities, combined with the existing financing from Export-Import Bank of the United States (which was not re-financed), totals approximately US$1.45 billion.

Simpson Thacher recently represented the dealers in connection with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s update of its US$50 billion Global Medium Term Notes Program and the offering of US$1.25 billion of senior notes thereunder. The senior notes were guaranteed by SMBC’s New York branch and offered and sold in reliance on the exemption from SEC registration provided in Section 3(a)(2) of the Securities Act. SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Limited, Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P.

Davis Polk advised Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) on its debut SEC-registered takedown offering, which consisted of $1.75 billion aggregate principal amount of 2.934% senior notes due 2021, $1.5 billion aggregate principal amount of 3.784% senior notes due 2026 and $750 million aggregate principal amount of floating-rate senior notes due 2021.

The notes are structured to count as total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) when TLAC regulations are implemented in Japan.