Ashurst is advising Goldman Sachs in relation to the £258 million recommended cash acquisition of Jelf Group plc by Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Ltd, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

The Marsh group is a global leader in insurance broking and risk management. Founded in 1989, Jelf has 37 offices across the UK and provides expert advice to over 100,000 businesses and individuals on matters relating to insurance, healthcare, employee benefits and financial planning.

Ashurst advised a fund managed by Proventus Capital Partners and a fund managed by Rantum Capital Partners on the granting of a loan to partially fund Natsu Food GmbH & Co. KG's ("Natsu") acquisition of the Netherlands-based Qizini Group B.V. ("Qizini").

Slaughter and May is advising International Consolidated Airlines Group, S.A. (IAG), the holding company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, on the competition and financing aspects of its approximately EUR 1.4 billion recommended cash offer for Aer Lingus.

Ashurst advised UniCredit Bank AG and UniCredit Luxembourg S.A. (together, "UniCredit") in connection with the setting-up and structuring of a syndicated loan for Heinz-Glas Group. The medium-term credit facilities serve to refinance existing liabilities and to finance working capital needs. Besides UniCredit, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft and Sparkasse Kulmbach-Kronach also participated in the syndicated loan.

The Kyiv and Paris offices of Baker & McKenzie acted as Ukrainian and English law counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in connection with a new syndicated loan facility of up to USD 130 million for Nibulon, Ukraine’s leading grain and oilseeds trader and producer. The loan will support Nibulon in its trading activity including export sales.  Nibulon owns and operates one of the largest networks of grain handling and logistics infrastructure in Ukraine.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Commerzbank AG on the acquisition financing for the purchase of chemicals company LEUNA-Tenside GmbH (LEUNA-Tenside) by VR Equitypartner GmbH (VR Equitypartner) and BIP Investment Partners S.A. (BIP). The transaction was closed on August 12, 2015 following the approval of German and Austrian antitrust authorities.

Castres & Snellman advised the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in relation to a EUR 1,000 million credit facility agreement signed with six major Nordic banks on 29 April 2015. The credit facility is valid for two years, and part of the credit facility can also be renewed for one year. This credit facility replaces the UIF’s old credit facilities, and it is essentially sufficient to secure the UIF’s foreseeable needs for debt financing in 2015 and onwards. The Finnish Government has granted an absolute state guarantee of EUR 770 million for the credit facility.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Helaba as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on a €600m five year term loan to be used by International Airlines Group (IAG) for its acquisition of Ireland’s Aer Lingus.

IAG has cancelled €600m of an existing €1.4bn bridge loan and replaced it with funds arranged and underwritten by Helaba. Helaba is also acting as security agent on the €1.4bn bridge facility. It will provide IAG with a €200m A1 tranche. Additionally, British Airways, whose parent company is IAG, will provide a €400m A2 tranche.

Ashurst advised DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main ("DZ BANK") on the financing of the acquisition of OTTO Office GmbH & Co KG ("Otto Office") by its competitor Printus Fachvertrieb für Bürobedarf GmbH ("Printus"). The mail-order retailer of office supplies was sold by Hamburg-based mail order group Otto for an undisclosed consideration.

Ashurst advised a bank consortium comprising HSH Nordbank, NIBC Bank Deutschland and Raiffeisenbank International on the financing of the acquisition of IN tIME Express Logistik Group by South-African logistics group Super Group Limited ("Super Group") for a total enterprise valuation of €153.5 million. The banks provided €58 million while the remaining amount is financed from cash by Super Group. IN tIME's management team will retain a 25 percent stake in the company. The majority interest was sold by funds managed by Equistone Partners Europe.