Clifford Chance's top-rated Project Finance team has advised the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest) in connection with the first ever issuance by IDB of a Reais-denominated guaranty of Brazilian infrastructure bonds. This innovative offering from IDB leverages its AAA credit rating to promote development financing since, due to the IDB guaranty, the issuer of the Brazilian infrastructure bonds was able to offer its investors a domestic Brazilian investment with a local AAA rating, higher than Brazil's sovereign debt rating.

Hogan Lovells has achieved a further landmark judgment for BTA Bank in one of the biggest fraud cases to have ever come before the English courts.

In a High Court judgment made public this week, the Court ruled in favour of BTA, finding Ilyas Khrapunov liable for conspiring with BTA's former chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, to deal with assets in breach of a freezing order.

His Honour Judge Waksman ordered Mr Khrapunov to pay damages of over US$500m (US$424,110,000 + interest of US$75,851,783.01).

CMS has advised OTP Bank Group on the acquisition of Société Générale subsidiaries SG Expressbank Group, Sogelife Insurance Company, and SG Banka Albania, with a collective transaction value of over €600 million. The deals are expected to complete next year due to complex regulatory and merger clearance filings in five jurisdictions, with the possibility of an additional Phase II filing.

Simmons & Simmons has advised Rabobank on the launch of a market first ESG Commercial Paper and Certificate of Deposit Programme. The ESG Programme offers short term investments in Rabobank as a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. It further provides investors with more diversified investment opportunities and contributes to capital being channelled to more sustainably operating companies.

Mayer Brown represented The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) in connection with its deal to acquire The Navigators Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NAVG) for approximately $2.1 billion.

Ashurst has advised Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc as sponsor in relation to a class 1 transaction announced by EVRAZ plc on 29 May 2018. EVRAZ plc is a global steel and mining company with operations primarily in Russia. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index with a market capitalisation of c.US$9 billion.

The transaction involved the provision of a guarantee of certain contractual obligations by EVRAZ plc, which constitutes a class 1 transaction for the purposes of the Listing Rules and required the publication of a class 1 circular.