Ashurst advised HSH Nordbank AG ("HSH") on the financing of the acquisition of a portfolio comprising seven retail properties with a total selling space of 82,000 square meters by property companies majority-owned by Partners Group, Zug, Switzerland.

The properties are inter alia located in Potsdam and in Bergen on the island Rügen. The majority of the space is let to renowned anchor tenants including hypermarket chains Real and Kaufland as well as DIY chain toom. HSH provided a partial financing of €62 million.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised UBS AG, Australian Branch (UBS) and Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited (Macquarie) as joint lead managers in relation to Westpac Banking Corporation’s (Westpac) sell down of shares in BT Investment Management Limited (BTIM) by way of a fully underwritten institutional offer of 55 million shares (approximately 19% of BTIM’s issued capital) at A$8.20 per share, for total consideration of A$451 million, and a fully underwritten retail offer to existing Westpac and BTIM shareholders of 27 million shares (approximately 9% of BTIM’s issued

Gernandt & Danielsson advises Nordea Bank AB (publ) in connection with the divestment of its merchant acquiring business to Nets Holding A/S for a purchase price of EUR 230 million.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

King & Wood Mallesons (“KWM”) advised GF Securities Co., Ltd. (“GF Securities”) on its successful Hong Kong IPO and H-share issuance. Already listed in Shenzhen, GF Securities issued 1,479,822,800 H-shares originally priced at HK$18.85 and raised approximately HK$28 billion (before exercising the overallotment option) among which 221,973,400 shares were under the exercise of the overallotment option.

Ashurst advised HSBC Bank, Lloyds Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Abbey National Treasury Services and Barclays Bank as lenders on a £380 million revolving facility agreement provided to Kier Group plc - a property, residential, construction and services group - which was used in connection with the acquisition of MRBL Limited, the holding company of the Mouchel group, an international infrastructure and business services group.

The Ashurst team was led by banking partner Tim Rennie assisted by associate Andrea Thomas.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised the sole placing agent and sole global coordinator in relation to CITIC Securities’ private placement of new H Shares and the subscription of H Shares by China’s National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF).

The transactions have a combined value of US$5bn, and subject to approvals, form the largest equity follow-on offering in Asia during 2015 to date.

SciBase Holding AB (publ) has today been listed on Nasdaq First North

SciBase is a Swedish medical technology company founded in 1998 that has developed Nevisense, a point-of-care device for the accurate detection of malignant melanoma.

Ashurst advised the syndicate of lenders, jointly coordinated by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. and Barclays Bank plc, on the amendment and extension of a US$1.2bn syndicated revolving credit facility for Petrofac, a FTSE-250 listed leading provider of oilfield services to the international oil and gas industry.

The facility, which now matures in June 2020, includes two one-year extension options (subject to lender approval) and is available for the Petrofac group's general corporate purposes.

Simmons & Simmons are advising Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (“MUTB”) on its subscription of £100m of non-voting preference shares in Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (“Aberdeen”).

DLA Piper acted for Essence Corporate Finance (Hong Kong) Limited as the sole sponsor,  Essence International Securities (Hong Kong) Limited as the sole global coordinator, Essence International Securities (Hong Kong) Limited and Haitong International Securities Company Limited as the joint bookrunners and joint lead managers and SBI China Capital Financial Services Limited as the co-lead manager on the listing of China Greenfresh Group Co. Ltd. (Stock Code: 6183) on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.