Total and Corbion are joining forces to develop bioplastics by creating a 50/50 joint venture to produce and market polylactic (PLA) polymers. The two partners plan to build a world-class PLA polymerization plant with a capacity of 75,000 tons per year at Corbion's site in Thailand that already has a lactide (PLA monomer) production unit that will become part of the joint venture. Corbion will supply the lactic acid necessary for the production of the PLA and the lactide.

The newspapers Metroxpress and BT have entered into an agreement to merge into a new company. Plesner advised Metroxpress on the merger.
BTMX will be the name of the new media company that will be behind Metroxpress and BT in future. The merger means that the editorial staff of the two newspapers will be integrated, but that both Metroxpress and BT will continue, at least for the time being, as independent newspapers both in print and digitally.

Shearman & Sterling represented Interoute Finco plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Interoute Communication Holdings S.A. ("Interoute"), on its new €275 million term loan facility agreement and its new €75 million revolving credit facility agreement. Part of the net proceeds from the new term loan was used to refinance Interoute's existing senior secured floating rate notes due 2020. Interoute is the owner operator of Europe's largest network and a global cloud services platform.

Slaughter and May is advising FWD Group, the insurance arm of Pacific Century Group, in relation to its acquisition of AIG Fuji Life Insurance Company, Limited, the company through which AIG runs its life insurance business in Japan.  The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

The transaction was announced on 15 November 2016.
Contacts

Slaughter and May team: Corporate: David Watkins (partner), Zhuo Chen Chong (associate); Tax: Gareth Miles (partner), Charles Osborne (associate)

Mercury Systems, a NASDAQ listed leading commercial provider of secure processing subsystems, acquires the Swiss mission computing company Creative Electronic Systems (CES).

Vienna, 8 November 2016 – China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), in collaboration with two other partners from China, is establishing its European headquarters in Graz. The deal to purchase a production site and office building from the Steinklauber Group was recently signed. Dr. Christian Buchmann, Economic Minister of Styria, and a high-ranking delegation from China were in attendance.

Multitel has led the creation process of one of the two consortiums that hope to be awarded the “Red Compartida” project to improve telephone and internet coverage throughout the country

Multitel, owned by Eugenio Galdón, heads an international consortium that has submitted a tender for Red Compartida, the Mexican government’s project to build a cellular network to improve the country’s connectivity.

DLA Piper represented TubeMogul, an enterprise software company for digital branding that provides a video buying platform to advertisers, in its US$540 million sale to Adobe.

TubeMogul was founded in 2007 and is based in Emeryville, California. Mark Radcliffe and Peter Astiz, partners in DLA Piper's Silicon Valley office, have assisted TubeMogul and its founders at all stages of its life cycle, including its initial public offering in 2014.

We have advised two Cambridge companies on their latest funding rounds, as the firm cements its reputation as the go-to firm for venture capital investment.

The firm has recently advised existing client Imagen, on their £2.5 million funding from Cambridge Innovation Capital.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Seven West Media Limited on its purchase of The Sunday Times newspaper and website PerthNow from Nationwide News Pty Limited.

Seven West Media Limited, a long-standing client of Herbert Smith Freehills, is one of Australia’s best-performing integrated media and content companies.