Clyde & Co has advised Beehive, the UAE’s first and leading online marketplace for peer-to-peer (P2P) finance, on the successful structuring and documenting of the company’s Sharia certified platform.

Beehive's certification as a Sharia compliant P2P finance platform by the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB), illustrates the continuing innovation in Islamic Finance products across new sectors, such as crowdfunding and highlights Dubai’s growing role as the global capital of Islamic finance.

Osborne Clarke advised financial services provider FWU AG on the acquisition of Skandia Austria, with its insurance portfolio of 82,000 contracts and assets under management of EUR 1.4 billion, from the Heidelberger Life Group. The transaction requires the approval of the relevant authorities.

Three members of the management of Swisscanto Vorsorge AG have aquired its advisory service business relating to occupational pensions as part of a management buy-out transaction (MBO).

Swisscanto Vorsorge AG is a subsidiary of the Zurich Cantonal Bank. The managers have set up a new company named Prevanto AG which will offering these services in Zurich (main office), Basel and Lausanne with 30 employees. Prevanto AG will be a leading provider of advisory services relating to occupasional pensions. The consummation of the transaction is planned for Fall 2015.

Schoenherr advised immigon portfolioabbau ag ("immigon") (formerly ÖVAG – Österreichische Volksbank AG) on the sale of its 100% shareholding in VB Factoring Bank AG, including the subsidiary Eurincasso GmbH, to Germany's A.B.S. Global Factoring AG. Following the signing of an acquisition agreement on 28 August 2015, the transaction is expected to be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2015, subject to the approval of the authorities responsible and adherence to the contractual agreements. The parties agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Shanghai/Hong Kong – Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that it advised the seller, Century Holding Company Limited, a joint venture between The Carlyle Group and CLSA, on the sale of Hongjia Tower (the ‘property’) to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yuexiu Real Estate Investment Trust.

The property comprises a 25-storey Grade A office building located in the Zhuyuan central business district of Pudong, Shanghai.

The Paul Hastings team was led by partners Wayne Ma and Paul Guan, with support from associates Winfield Lau and Eugenie Hui.

A team from the Hong Kong, New York, Washington D.C. and London offices of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has advised AXA in the sale by AXA of its Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) and Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) business in Hong Kong to Principal Financial Group (The Principal).

Debevoise also advised AXA  on a related 15-year exclusive distribution arrangement with The Principal in Hong Kong for relevant MPF and ORSO mandatory schemes. The total cash consideration amounted to HK$ 2.6 billion (€296 million).

Clifford Chance has advised Mitsubishi Corporation on the acquisition of a strategic stake in Singapore-listed Olam International Ltd. for approximately US$1.1billion (SGD1.5 billion). Mitsubishi and Olam have entered into a subscription agreement under which Olam will issue to Mitsubishi approximately 12% of its enlarged issued share capital for SGD2.75 for each new share. Simultaneously, Mitsubishi is acquiring a number of existing Olam shares from one of the current shareholders of Olam, Kewalram Singapore Limited.

In a share sale completed on 28 August 2015, Royal Bank of Canada, Canada’s biggest bank by assets and the world’s fifth-largest wealth manager at the end of 2014, sold its Swiss subsidiary Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) SA to Swiss based Banque SYZ SA. Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) SA has assets under management of about CHF 10 billion.

Pestalozzi advised Royal Bank of Canada on all legal aspects of the transaction.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Axis Bank Limited and a syndicate of lenders based in Singapore, United Arab Emirates and London on a US$202 million limited recourse project refinancing of the floating, production, storage and offloading vessel m.v. “ARMADA STERLING”.

The FPSO is owned by a joint venture entity formed by Bumi Armada Berhad, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd. and Clean Environment Investments Co. Ltd. It is currently working for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) in the D1 field, 200km offshore from Mumbai, India.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Norwegian company Lindorff Group AB on the acquisition of 100 per cent of shares in Casus Finanse S.A., a Polish company which deals among other things with the management and collection of receivables.

Lindorff Group is known to be one of the leading players in the global market for debt collection. It employs approximately 2800 people in 12 countries.