International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised the underwriters on the US$546m global offering and listing of Bank of Chongqing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange which took place today.

The listing represents the first IPO of a Chinese bank in three years.

Freshfields advised a consortium of the underwriters on the IPO, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BOCOMI, CICC, ABCI, CCBI and ICBCI.

Field Fisher Waterhouse has advised the London-based broker Mirabaud Securities LLP on a US$ 100 million fundraising for the African focused oil and gas exploration and production company Lekoil Limited.

Mirabaud Securities acted as sole bookrunner on what is one of the largest fundraisings on AIM this year, raising approximately US$ 100 million (£62 million) for Lekoil through the placing of, in aggregate, 113,282,000 new ordinary shares at a placing price of 55 pence per ordinary share.

Simpson Thacher recently represented the initial purchasers, including J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Securities, RBS, BofA Merrill Lynch and Goldman, Sachs & Co., in connection with a Rule 144A/Regulation S high yield offering of $375 million 6.500% Senior Notes due 2021 by Plastipak Holdings, Inc.  The Firm also represented J.P. Morgan as dealer manager in connection with Plastipak’s cash tender offer for any and all of its outstanding 10.625% Senior Notes due 2019.

Davis Polk advised Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, as sole lead and book-running manager, in connection with the offering by Seagate HDD Cayman of $800 million aggregate principal amount of its 3.75% senior notes due 2018. The notes are unconditionally guaranteed by Seagate Technology plc. The notes were sold in an offering exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S.  

Based in the Cayman Islands, Seagate HDD Cayman is a subsidiary of Seagate Technology plc, which is a leading provider of electronic data storage products.   

Ashurst has advised the underwriters, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, Numis Securities Limited and Canaccord Genuity Limited, on the £420 million IPO of Foxtons Group plc and its admission to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and admission to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc.

Singapore: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised joint bookrunners, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, CIMB Investment Bank Berhad, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered, on the international law aspects of the listing of UMW Oil & Gas Corp. Bhd. on Bursa Malaysia.

Davis Polk advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. as joint book-running managers in connection with the SEC-registered offering by Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. of $250 million principal amount of its 3.45% senior notes due 2023 and $750 million principal amount of its 4.875% senior notes due 2043.

Bird & Bird's London dispute resolution team have been successful in a landmark decision against Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (the Bank) in the Court of Appeal in Gibraltar. This decision is of significant importance to all banks dealing in UK law jurisdictions and their potential liability to non-customer third parties if they fail to ask appropriate questions for transactions they are involved in.

Allen & Overy LLP has advised the banking syndicate led by Credit Suisse AG (acting as Global Coordinator ) on the successful IPO of Cembra Money Bank AG , formerly GE Money Bank AG, one of the leading consumer credit banks in Switzerland , on the SIX Swiss Exchange AG . It is the sixth-largest IPO in the EMEA Economic Area this year and the second largest IPO of a bank since the start of the 2008 financial crisis. In Switzerland it is the largest IPO since March 2012 and the fifth-largest of the entire decade.

Osborne Clarke has advised Funding Circle, a long-standing client and the market leading peer to peer (P2P) business lender in the UK, in a $37m Series C round of funding. This is one of the largest investment rounds completed in Europe this year, which is a testament to the success and rapid growth of Funding Circle in the past few years. In the last 12 months, Funding Circle has facilitated the lending of £170 million to more than 3,000 UK businesses and is a market leader in the fast growing P2P debt market.