Ashurst advised Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG (Berenberg Bank) on the financing of the acquisition of confectionery specialist Hussel by Munich-based private equity fund Emeram Capital Partners. The loan agreement was signed on 25 April 2014. Berenberg acted as super senior lender. The loan was provided by debt fund Avenue Capital in the form of a unitranche. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financing volume. Hussel was sold by Douglas Holding.

Alliance partners Linklaters and Allens have acted for Bank of China Limited, Sydney Branch on its CNY 2 billion note offering which was completed on 16 April 2014. This transaction marks the first ever Renminbi offering targeting Australian institutional investors.

Railpool Group has a new owner. Funds advised by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. acquired all the shares in Railpool GmbH and Railpool Holding GmbH & Co. KG (referred to jointly as “Railpool”) from HSH Nordbank AG and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH on 9 May. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Simmons & Simmons has advised KNG Securities LLP as lead manager and sole bookrunner on a $60m US dollars issue of secured exchangeable bonds by Gold Exchangeable Limited, which are exchangeable into shares in the SPDR Gold Trust (the largest physically-backed gold exchange traded fund in the world).

This is the first exchangeable bond issued in the European market where the underlying is a physically-backed gold exchange traded fund.

Corporate partner Richard Spedding is advising Canaccord Genuity on the £170m IPO of Patisserie Holdings plc (the "Company"), announced on 14 May. Canaccord Genuity is acting as financial adviser, nominated adviser and broker to the Company.

The Company heads a leading UK branded café and casual dining group. It operates under the following five differentiated brands across England and Scotland:

· Patisserie Valerie;

· Druckers - Vienna Patisserie;

· Philpotts;

· Baker & Spice; and

Ashurst advised DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main (DZ BANK) and Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft on the refinancing of the acquisition of cosmetics provider Geka by British finance investor 3i. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financing volume.

Ashurst advised The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) in connection with a syndicated, revolving credit facility in the amount of €1,525 billion for METRO AG. RBS and ING Bank jointly granted the facility, both banks acting as co-ordinators. In addition, RBS is acting as Facility Agent.

METRO used the facility to refinance a €1,5 billion revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes. The agreement for the new facility was signed on 30 April 2014.

Macfarlanes has advised GE Capital, HSBC and RBS in relation to a new £70m facility made available to wealth adviser Towry. The facility has been used to refinance Towry's existing senior and mezzanine facilities into a single, all-senior debt package.  It also includes acquisition financing for Towry to make further acquisitions in the sector.

The Towry group was created through a series of acquisitions by private equity owner Palamon from 2003 onwards, and now has in excess of £5.5bn of assets under management.

Slaughter and May, working as a team with Uría Menéndez, advised Caixa d’Estalvis I Pensions de Barcelona "la Caixa" on its issue of EUR 1 billion 2.375% senior unsecured notes due 2019.

Barclays, CaixaBank, S.A., Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as Joint Lead Managers. Application has been made for the bonds to be admitted to listing and trading on the Spanish AIAF Fixed Income Securities Market.

CONTACTS

Financing: Miranda Leung (partner), Thomas Jemmett (associate)

Linklaters has advised the Bank of China on its first offshore Renminbi (RMB) ‘Schengen bond’. This bond, which will be listed on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, means that the Bank of China to be the first Chinese mainland company to issue RMB bonds in the Eurozone.

This three-year bond, priced at 3.50%, amounts to a total of RMB 1.5 billion and is issued under the USD 10 billion MTN program of the Bank of China Group.