Clifford Chance has co-advised Haitong Securities Co., Ltd. on its proposed acquisition of Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento (BESI) for €379 million (US$467 million) from Portuguese banking group, Novo Banco, S.A. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Garrigues Portugal, S.L.P. – Sucursal acted as the other co-counsel advising on the Portuguese law aspects of this transaction.

Schoenherr served as lead counsel to the shareholders of Volksbank Romania S.A. (“VBRO”) - Österreichische Volksbanken-AG (VBAG), Groupe BPCE, DZ BANK AG and WGZ BANK - on their agreed sale of VBRO to Romania’s third-largest bank, Banca Transilvania SA. Signing of the contracts took place on 10 December 2014. The closing of the transaction is subject to approval by the National Bank of Romania and the Romanian competition authority and is expected within the first half year of 2015.

COMCO closes its investigation into the domestic credit card business with a settlement decision. Parties to the ComCo investigation were undertakings which issue credit cards, as well as undertakings which promote the acceptance of credit cards to merchants and conclude respective contracts with them. MasterCard was also party to the investigation, but did not sign the settlement.

MasterCard is represented by Lenz & Staehelin (Marcel Meinhardt and Felix Prümmer).

Travers Smith advised Cenkos Securities on the £106m AIM IPO of Mercia Technologies plc.  The Travers Smith team was led by corporate finance partner, Anthony Foster, supported by corporate associate, Jenni Harley.

Ashurst advised DNB Bank ASA, Bank of Ireland and Mizuho Bank Ltd, with respect to the refinancing of APCOA PARKING Group ("APCOA" or "The Group"). The leading European car park manager reached agreement with its key lenders and finance investor Eurazeo regarding the modalities of its refinancing. Eurazeo acquired APCOA in 2007 from private equity company Investcorp for €885 million.

Clifford Chance has advised a group of underwriters including China International Capital Corporation, BofA Merrill Lynch and ABC International on CGN Power Co, Ltd's US$3.16 billion listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The deal was priced at the top end of the price range at HK$2.78 per share, raising an amount of HK$24.52 billion (US$3.16 billion), and making it the largest listing in Hong Kong and the second largest in the region so far this year. It also marks the first time a nuclear operator has listed in Hong Kong.

Davis Polk is advising Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited as sole sponsor and joint financial adviser to Imperial Tobacco Group PLC on its $7.1 billion acquisition of U.S. cigarette brands Winston, Maverick, Kool, Salem and U.S. and international e-cigarette blu, plus other assets, from Reynolds American Inc. as part of its $27.4 billion acquisition of Lorillard Inc. A circular seeking shareholder approval of the transaction was published by Imperial Tobacco on December 15, 2014.

Roschier represented Nets Holding A/S, a global payment service provider, in the acquisition of 80% of the shares in Paytrail plc, a Finnish based e-commerce payment service provider, from multiple sellers.

With about 4,500 merchants and more than 10,000 online stores and services in its network, Paytrail has a solid market position and a proven track record in providing e-commerce payment services.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CA-CIB) on the establishment of Sea Bridge Finance, a joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB).

Sea Bridge Finance is a 50-50 joint venture between CA-CIB and SMTB and has been formed to invest up to US$1 billion in senior secured ship mortgage loans over the next three years. Norton Rose Fulbright will continue to represent Sea Bridge Finance in relation to its future investment activities.

Simon Hartley, partner and co-head of shipping, commented:

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), China's largest lender, issued USD5.65 billion equivalent in aggregate of Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 preference shares. Allen & Overy advised ICBC International as Sole Global Coordinator and ICBC International, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners on ICBC’s debut offshore AT1 preference share offering.