On 10 August 2014, African Bank Limited of South Africa was placed under the local bank rescue process of curatorship and Mr Thomas Winterboer of PricewaterhouseCoopers South Africa was appointed as its Curator. African Bank mainly offers unsecured personal loans to individuals in the medium to lower income segments in South Africa and plays an important role as a regulated loan provider for many South Africans.
Clifford Chance has advised on a number of notable bond issuances for both banks and corporates since the start of 2016, despite the general market slowdown.
Partner Connie Heng, Head of Capital Markets for Asia Pacific said, "The DCM market has been quiet due to volatility over the past several months. I'm very pleased our team has been busy with many of this year's key deals."
BSI SA, a Swiss private bank with headquarters in Lugano sold its 49% stake in B-Source SA, a BPO provider headquartered in Bioggio, to Avaloq AG, a financial services and banking software provider headquartered in Zurich, for an undisclosed consideration. The transaction was closed in early February 2016. B-Source SA is soon to be renamed Avaloq Sourcing Switzerland SA.
BSI SA was advised by Lenz & Staehelin in this transaction. The team included Hans-Jakob Diem (Partner), Harold Frey (Partner) and Nicolas Jacquemart (Associate).
Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore as documentation bank on behalf of a syndicate of lenders on the US$1,119,702,500 limited recourse project financing of the “Armada Olombendo” floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) for Bumi Armada Berhad.
Eversheds Bitans has represented Latvian Joint Stock Company Latvijas Krajbanka before the court in proceedings against Ernst & Young Baltic — represented by Kronbergs & Cukste — on matters concerning audits of Latvijas Krajbanka financial statements conducted by EY. The matter was settled out of court.
Osborne Clarke has advised Bellevue Group AG on its acquisition of StarCapital AG, an independent Asset Manager. Bellevue Group is an independent Swiss asset management boutique, listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Founded in 1993, the company focuses on brokerage, corporate finance and asset management services.
Clifford Chance has advised NIBC Bank Deutschland AG on the financing of the solar power system lease programme of MEP Werke GmbH.
The financing provided by NIBC Bank Deutschland AG via a special-purpose entity that has been established specifically for this transaction (Deutsche Ökostrom Limited) is used by the MEP Group to purchase solar power systems in order to support its growth in the sector.
Orrick advised EOS Holding on its acquisition of a portfolio of four windfarms and four solar plants located in France and Portugal — with an approximate total production capacity of 100 MW — from Omnes Capital.
BEIJING, February 24, 2016 – Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP advised Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Agricultural Bank of China Limited, New York Branch, Bank of China (Hungary) Close LTD., and Bank of Communications Co., LTD. (acting through its Offshore Banking Unit) (altogether the “Lenders”), on the recently completed US$910 million acquisition financing to HNA Aviation (Hong Kong) Ground Handling Holdings Co., Limited, a Hong Kong affiliate of HNA Group Co., Ltd.
The High Court has today published its decision in a judicial review application on an interest rate hedging redress scheme (R ex p Holmcroft Properties Limited v KPMG & others). This is a key judgment that has been watched with keen interest by banks, interest rate hedging counterparties, regulators and professional service firms alike.
Linklaters LLP acted for Barclays Bank LLP, second interested party.