Linklaters has successfully advised on the project financing of a ¥12.1 billion renewable energy deal in Japan.

Linklaters acted for ING Bank as the Underwriter, Bookrunner, Mandated Lead Arranger, Facility and Security Agent, Account Bank and Swap Bank in relation to Nippon Solar Services’ construction of a utility-scale solar photovoltaic power plant with a generation capacity of 33 megawatts located in the Oita Prefecture in Kyushu.

Gide advises CNP Assurances on the acquisition of a majority stake in Géosud from Total, Géostock and INEOS. Total and INEOS will sell to CNP Assurances their entire stake, of respectively 56.07% and 13.93%. Géostock will keep a minority 2% stake.

Set up in 2009 for the study, construction and operation of underground natural gas storage sites, Géosud owns a 50% stake in GIE Géométhane, the operator of a natural gas storage site operator located in Manosque (south-east France).

Gide advised CNP Assurances on the issuance of its € 750 million subordinated notes due 2047, admitted to trading on the Euronext Paris market. Allen & Overy Paris advised Barclays Bank PLC, J.P Morgan Securities plc, Natixis and UBS Limited as joint lead managers.

Gide's team was led by partner Hubert du Vignaux, assisted by Bastien Raisse and Aude-Laurène Dourdain.

Davis Polk advised Postal and Savings Bank of China (“PSBC”) in connection with its issuance and sale of over $7 billion worth of shares to a group of strategic investors. The investors include six international financial institutions UBS, JPMorgan, DBS, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Temasek and IFC, two state-owned enterprises China Life and China Telecom, as well as two Chinese Internet giants Ant Financial (an affiliate of Alibaba) and Tencent. The transaction also encompasses multiple levels of strategic collaboration between PSBC and the investors.

On 16 December 2015, King & Wood Mallesons advised on the successful issuance in China’s interbank market of the registered RMB 3 billion sovereign bonds by the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea). The tenor of the bonds is three years, and the coupon rate is 3.00%. The RMB bonds issued by the Republic of Korea (also known as “Panda Bonds”, which are RMB-denominated bonds issued by a non-PRC issuer in the PRC) is the first RMB bonds issued by a foreign sovereign in China, which is a milestone project in the process of the RMB internationalization.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Bibby Financial Services Limited on the securitisation of its existing £480m loan book of factoring and invoice finance receivables, enabling it to boost lending by £290m. The transaction is the first rated private sector securitisation deal by a non-bank asset-based lender covering multiple legal jurisdictions.

The joint lead managers were Barclays, Bank of America, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group, and the transaction was awarded AA and Aa2 ratings from DBRS and Moody’s respectively.

Slaughter and May advised Santander UK Group Holdings plc on its issue under its EUR 30 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme of JPY 3,000,000,000 0.557 per cent. Notes due 2018 and JPY 27,000,000,000 0.787 per cent. Notes due 2020.

Travers Smith partner Adrian West, senior counsel Mohammed Senouci and associate Ben Hanglin have advised finnCap Limited as nominated adviser, joint bookrunner and underwriter and Liberum Capital Limited as joint bookrunner and underwriter to CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings plc on CityFibre's £80 million placing and re-admission to trading on AIM in connection with its £90m acquisition of dark fibre assets from KCOM Group plc.

The Litigation team at Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG) has secured a High Court judgment of over $1 million for American Express in a dispute related to a large debt incurred by a high-net-worth individual.

The defendant, a Saudi Arabian national, had denied making most of the disputed purchases of jewellery amounting to nearly $700,000 on a prestigious Centurion account. He alleged that his signature had been forged and that the jewellery merchants in Riyadh were involved in a scheme to defraud him.

Linklaters advised Bank of China Limited on the listing of a bond on the new China International Europe Exchange (CEINEX). The CNY 2 billion bond bearing interest at a rate of 3.6 per cent and maturing in 2017 was issued by the bank’s branch in Abu Dhabi. For this purpose, a stock exchange admission prospectus had been prepared, which was approved by the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).