A combined team from Ashurst's Frankfurt and London office has advised Commerzbank, Societe Generale-CIB, Unicredit and ING in relation to the successful arrangement and closing of the refinancing of debt facilities of circa €408 million for AHT Cooling Systems (a Bridgepoint controlled company). AHT Cooling Systems develops and manufactures commercial cooling and freezing plug-in display cabinets for supermarkets as well as the ice-cream, food and beverage industries.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised ING Bank Slaski S.A. in connection with a loan facility made available to Hines for the acquisition of a prime office building in Warsaw.

Hines is a leading US real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide.

The property was purchased by the Hines Poland Sustainable Income Fund.

The facility was used to finance the acquisition of the Ambassador office building in Warsaw, Poland.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP announced that it has represented the dealer managers in a pair of private exchange offers conducted by Verizon Communications Inc., one of which is the largest debt exchange offer on record.  The transactions allow Verizon to take advantage of the current low interest rates and low borrowing costs while also extending and spreading out the maturity of its debt.

Dentons advised its long-standing client, Expobank, on the successful acquisition of LBBW Bank CZ a.s. from German Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW). The transaction that was originally signed in January 2014 has now closed as scheduled on 1 September 2014.

CMS has advised Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (LBBW) on the sale of its Czech subsidiary, LBBW Bank CZ a.s., to Expobank from Russia.

LBBW Bank CZ is a mid-size universal bank with 18 branches in the Czech Republic. The bank has operated in the market since 1991 and was acquired by LBBW in September 2008. The parties have not announced the purchase price.

Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, has announced that the firm represented Jefferies Finance LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Nomura Securities International, Inc. as lead arrangers and joint bookrunners in connection with the financing for the acquisition of landscaping company ValleyCrest Holding Co. by KKR-backed landscaping company The Brickman Group Ltd.
 

Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, has announced that the firm represented Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch, J.P.

Sidley successfully defended Investec Bank PLC in London’s High Court in proceedings brought against the bank by the former head and deputy head of its structured equity derivatives desk. The Claimants attacked the basis on which the bank calculated their bonuses, and alleged that the Chief Executive of Investec had orally agreed with the Claimants to the effect that special provisions would apply when determining their bonuses. After a three-year battle, culminating in a two week trial, all of the claims were dismissed and Investec was awarded its costs.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Members Equity Bank Limited (ME Bank) in relation to its offer of new Tier 2  Floating Rate Unsecured and Subordinated Notes, which were issued on 29 August 2014.

The offer marked the first Basel III compliant Tier 2 issue by an unlisted entity. Initially intended to raise A$150 million, the offer was significantly oversubscribed and ultimately raised A$300 million.

Cadwalader is pleased to have advised Deutsche Bank AG in connection with (i) the sale of its US power trading book to Citigroup Energy and (ii) the sale of its North American natural gas trading book to Morgan Stanley Capital Group.

The Cadwalader team on each transaction was led by Karen Dewis (Corporate), with assistance from Vanessa Tanaka, Paul Pantano (Energy & Commodities), Bryan Shipp and Lynna Cobrall. Shlomo Boehm (Tax) and Jason Schwartz provided assistance on tax matters.