Clifford Chance has advised on two RMB-denominated bond issuances totalling RMB2.5 billion in the last month. These include:

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) as senior lender on an acquisition financing to an equity consortium led by Venn Partners LLP (Venn), a London based specialised credit investment boutique. Freshfields has also advised RBS, as arranger and manager, on a subsequent capital markets refinancing of the initial acquisition debt.

The financing has enabled the Venn consortium to purchase a portfolio of Dutch residential mortgage loans from GE Artesia Bank (GE).

Allen & Overy acted as Australian and international counsel to the export credit agencies and commercial lenders on the financing of the integrated Roy Hill iron ore project, the world's largest ever project financing in the mining sector.

The project sponsors, namely Hancock Prospecting, Marubeni, POSCO and CSC recently announced the finalisation of the USD7.2 billion project financing arrangements, which completes the funding package required to construct the USD10 billion project.

Clifford Chance advised the joint lead managers on the bond issue of Aareal Bank AG, Wiesbaden, with a volume of EUR 300 million. The bond consists of Subordinated Callable Fixed Rate Reset Notes with scheduled maturity in March 2026.

The Notes shall constitute own funds in the form of supplementary capital (Tier 2 Capital) according to the applicable regulations.The issue was among the first by a German bank under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) which entered into force in January 2014.

Travers Smith has advised HSBC Bank plc (“HSBC”) on Hawksford International’s acquisition of Singapore-based Janus Corporate Solutions. Hawksford, backed by UK mid-market private equity house Dunedin, is an award winning, successful and leading independent wealth structuring company specialising in preserving and enhancing wealth.

Dentons acted as legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a US$75 million loan to Ukraine’s PJSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval.

The EBRD is the largest financial investor in Ukraine. As of 1 January 2014 the Bank had committed €8.7 billion (US$11.9 billion) through 321 projects in Ukraine.

The Dentons team was led by partners Zarko Iankov (London) and Natalya Selyakova (Kyiv) supported by associate Nikolay Zhovner (Kyiv).

Davis Polk is advising Goldman Sachs’s merchant banking division and Vestar Capital Partners in connection with the acquisition of Hearthside Food Solutions LLC from Wind Point Partners. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014, were not disclosed.

Davis Polk advised Nomura Securities International, Inc. as representative of the initial purchasers in connection with a Rule 144A offering by Cowen Group, Inc. of an aggregate principal amount of $149.5 million of 3% cash convertible senior notes due 2019. In addition, Davis Polk advised Nomura Global Financial Products Inc. as counterparty to cash convertible note hedge and warrant transactions with Cowen Group, Inc. in connection with the cash convertible senior notes offering. 

Eversheds has advised Legal & General (L&G) on investing £252m with Places for People (PfP) to help build 7,000 new homes.

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised BNP Paribas and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as joint global coordinators of Haichang Holdings Ltd's HK$2.45 billion (approx. US$315 million) global offering and listing on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The Company sold a total of 1,000,000,000 shares at HK$2.45 each. Haichang started trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, 13 March 2014.