Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Bank of Queensland Ltd on the sale of its St Andrew’s insurance business to listed company, Freedom Insurance Group Ltd (FIG) for A$65 million.

St Andrew’s was acquired by Bank of Queensland in 2010 and has become a market leader in corporate distribution and life insurance underwriting.

FIG is a publicly listed insurance group that specialises in developing, distributing and administering life insurance products in Australia.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Deutsche Bank AG, Tokyo Branch, as Co-ordinating Mandated Lead Arranger on an up to US$1.2 billion financing to the Key Safety Systems group (now re-branded Joyson Safety Systems) to fund the acquisition of substantially all of the global assets of Takata Corporation.

Linklaters advises as UK Asset Resolution announces sale of Bradford & Bingley assets for £5.3 billion.

Following an open and competitive process, Bradford & Bingley plc (“B&B”), part of UK Asset Resolution Limited (“UKAR”), confirmed that it has agreed to sell two separate portfolios of buy-to-let and residential owner-occupied mortgages to an investor group led by Barclays Bank PLC for a total of £5.3 billion. Pursuant to the sale, the purchasers will acquire approximately 45,000 B&B and Mortgage Express mortgages.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) has issued $1.75billion in bonds, split into a £750million seven year tranche and a $1billion 12 year tranche. Linklaters advised joint lead managers Citigroup, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, ING, Mizuho, Scotiabank and SMBC Nikko.

The bonds will be traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Jonathan Fried, Capital Markets partner at Linklaters, said:

Ashurst advised the syndicate banks, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (Commerzbank) and Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers Aktiengesellschaft (Hauck & Aufhäuser) on the initial public offering (IPO) of Serviceware SE (Serviceware), a leading provider of software solutions for the digitisation and automation of service processes, on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The banks acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the transaction.

CMS has advised on four investment company transactions announced at the end of April:

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure
CMS has advised investment banking firm Stifel on Sequoia Economic Infrastructure’s placing for up to 72.8m shares, implying a fundraising of up to £75.7m. The placing closes on 3 May with new shares expected to start trading on 9 May.

The CMS team is being led by Corporate partners Cathy Pitt and Alasdair Steele, and Associates Philippa Chatterton and Jenny Gray.

Supermarket Income REIT

DLA Piper is pleased to announce a significant victory before the United States Supreme Court for its client, Arab Bank, PLC. On April 24, 2018, the Court issued the landmark decision on behalf of our client, upholding the Second Circuit's ruling that corporations are not proper defendants under the Alien Tort Statute.

Cravath represented the initial purchasers, led by Goldman Sachs International, in connection with the £265 million 144A/Reg. S high-yield senior secured notes offering of Jewel UK Bondco PLC, a member of the Aurum Group, a leading multi-channel retailer of luxury watches in the United Kingdom. The notes were listed on The International Stock Exchange. The transaction closed on April 18, 2018.

Shearman & Sterling advises Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC as lead arrangers in connection with the proposed unsecured bridge and term loan financings related to Comcast’s offer for Sky, a leading entertainment and communications company in Europe.

The Team

The Shearman & Sterling team below was supported by associate Warren Stapley (London-Finance).

    Jonathan (JD) DeSantis
    Korey Fevzi
    Philip Stopford

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as joint bookrunners, on a €800 million dual tranche bond issue and an up to €200 million tender offer by ADLER Real Estate Aktiengesellschaft.