Baker & McKenzie's securities team advised CITIC Securities, as sole sponsor, and CLSA, as sole global coordinator, on the US$330 million global offering of Poly Culture Group Corporation Limited ("Poly Culture").  The global offering received overwhelming interest from investors, and the Hong Kong retail offering was over-subscribed by more than 600 times.  The H shares of Poly Culture commenced trading on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 6 March 2014.

Lawrence Graham LLP has advised Beaumont Cornish Limited, sponsor to Global Resources Investment Trust plc ("GRIT"), a new investment trust established to seek to exploit investment opportunities in the junior mining and natural resource sectors, on the admission of its ordinary shares to listing on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities.  Admission took place on Friday 7 March 2014, following the publication of GRIT's prospectus on Friday 28 February 2014.

Osborne Clarke has advised Canaccord Genuity as sole bookrunner on the £11.4million (before expenses) cash box placing by Goals Soccer Centres plc (AIM:GOAL), the premier operator of ‘next generation’ 5-a-side soccer centres. The net proceeds of the placing will be used to finance the accelerated roll-out of new sites in the UK and US and to improve the Company's capital structure.

The Osborne Clarke team was led by Partner Jonathan King who was assisted by Senior Associate Samantha New.

Ashurst advised a banking consortium comprising Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba), SEB AG, Natixis Pfandbriefbank AG, NATIXIS S.A. and funds managed by AXA REIM SGP on granting a loan for refinancing a real estate portfolio managed by Hansteen PLC. The portfolio comprises 45 logistic sites. The loan was used for repaying a loan granted by Unicredit Bank AG.

The London office of global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised ING Belgium on the establishment of a €10 billion Residential Mortgage Pandbrieven programme. The programme is ING Belgium’s first covered bond programme.

The programme is designed to be UCITS and CRD compliant and is listed on NYSE Brussels. The bonds issued will be collateralised, or “covered”, by a portfolio of Belgian residential mortgages.

Linklaters has advised Standard Chartered in the negotiation of a joint venture agreement with ENSA - Seguros de Angola, S.A. (ENSA) for the banking business in Angola. 

ENSA is an insurance company owned by the Angolan state and a market leader in the Angolan insurance sector. Standard Chartered and ENSA incorporated a new bank in Angola named Standard Chartered Bank Angola, S.A. (SCBA), in which Standard Chartered holds 60% of the share capital and ENSA the remaining 40%.

Davis Polk is advising Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as the dealer manager in connection with a modified “Dutch auction” tender offer by Genpact Limited to purchase up to $300 million in value of its common shares at a price that is not greater than $18.00 nor less than $16.50 per share. The number of common shares proposed to be purchased in the tender offer, at the minimum purchase price of $16.50 per share represents approximately 8% of Genpact’s outstanding common shares as of February 28, 2014.

Cravath represented UTi Worldwide Inc. in connection with its US$400 million Rule 144A offering of 4.50% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2019 and concurrent US$175 million private placement of 7.00% Convertible Preference Shares to UTi’s largest shareholder, P2 Capital Partners LLC. UTi Worldwide Inc. is an international, non-asset-based supply chain services and solutions company that provides services through a global network of freight forwarding offices and contract logistics and distribution centers. The transaction closed on March 4, 2014.

Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Banca Profilo S.p.A. in its capacity as Global Coordinator in relation to the listing of GALA S.p.A. on AIM Italia/Mercato Alternativo del Capitale, the multilateral trading facility organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A.. Gala is one of the main Italian energy companies engaged in the supply of electricity to the public administration and to mixed public-private companies.

The transaction is one of the largest value capitalisations ever completed on AIM Italia. Trading is expected to start on 10 March 2014.

Slaughter and May advised Legal & General on the £550 million acquisition of the Hyperion portfolio, comprising 55 properties largely let to RBS or members of its group. The portfolio includes the trophy building at 440 Strand which is the Coutts headquarters. The transaction involved the acquisition of the UK target company owning the assets.

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