Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) Limited as the sole placing agent in the top-up placing of 52 million shares in Summit Ascent Holdings Limited. The total value of the shares is approximately HK$588 million.

Summit Ascent is primarily engaged in trading of tiles and engineering operations products. The top-up placing is mainly to raise funds for further investments for a gaming and resort project in Russia and general working capital.

Ashurst advised J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Oriel Securities as joint sponsors and joint bookrunners on a placing and offer for subscription of shares in Picton Property Income Limited ("the Company"), and the establishment of a placing programme.

The oversubscribed placing and offer of 59.3 million shares at 59p per share successfully raised £35 million, which the Company will use to fund future acquisitions as part of its investment objective.

Trowers & Hamlins has advised Affordable Housing Finance Plc (AHF), a subsidiary company of The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC), on its recent government-guaranteed bond.  The £208 million, 28-year bond carries a ‘AAA’ rating from Standard and Poor's and is believed to be the tightest priced public bond transaction in the affordable housing sector’s 26-year history of accessing private finance.

Linklaters advised Merrill Lynch International and J.P. Morgan in the context of the disposal by Wendel, a listed investment company, of 24 million shares which Wendel held in Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the building materials and construction. This disposal represents approximately 4.3% of the total share capital of Saint-Gobain, with a value of around one billion euro.

The Linklaters team was led by Bertrand Sénéchal and Luis Roth, partners in the Capital Markets practice, assisted by associate Aymeric de Mol.

Davis Polk advised Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, and Citigroup Global Markets Limited, HSBC Bank plc, Mediobanca – Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A., Merrill Lynch International and UBS Limited as joint bookrunners, in connection with an offering by National Bank of Greece S.A. of 1,136,363,637 new ordinary shares at a price of €2.20 per share. The total gross proceeds from the offering amounted to €2.5 billion.

Davis Polk advised J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated as representatives of the several underwriters in connection with an SEC registered offering by SVB Financial Group of 4,485,000 shares of its common stock. The amount sold includes 585,000 shares from the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The gross proceeds from the offering were approximately $435 million.  

Davis Polk is advising UBS Limited as process bank and joint bookrunner and Banco Santander S.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Goldman Sachs International and J.P. Morgan Securities plc as joint bookrunners for a rights offering of up to approximately 300,000,000 new ordinary shares of Deutsche Bank AG, which is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately €6.3 billion (approximately $8.6 billion). Deutsche Bank is also acting as global coordinator of the offering.

Davis Polk is advising Deutsche Inversiones Limitada as financial adviser to CFR Pharmaceuticals in connection with its approximately $2.9 billion acquisition by Abbott Laboratories. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2014.

CFR Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, participates in 15 Latin American markets and currently markets more than 1,000 products. Abbott is a global health care company devoted to improving life through the development of products and technologies that span the breadth of health care.

Travers Smith corporate partner Andrew Gillen and corporate associate William Young have advised Numis Securities Limited on the £80m IPO of Shoe Zone plc on AIM. Numis was Nominated Adviser and Broker to Shoe Zone on the IPO.

Shoe Zone is a leading UK specialist value footwear retailer, offering low price and high quality footwear for the whole family, which operates from a portfolio of 553 stores and employs approximately 4,100 employees across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Pinsent Masons is advising Fair Oaks Capital, an independent advisory firm focussed on global credit, on the launch of Fair Oaks Income Fund and its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Fair Oaks Capital has been established by former GSO/Blackstone and Stone Tower Capital principals.

Investment funds co-head, Daniel Greenaway is leading a team at Pinsent Masons including the firm’s co-head of corporate finance, Louise Wolfson, and members of the tax and regulatory groups.