Travers Smith has advised HSBC Bank plc (“HSBC”) on Hawksford International’s acquisition of Singapore-based Janus Corporate Solutions. Hawksford, backed by UK mid-market private equity house Dunedin, is an award winning, successful and leading independent wealth structuring company specialising in preserving and enhancing wealth.
A cross-border Dentons team from the Los Angeles and Vancouver offices worked together to negotiate financing with an independent investor group for “Alex of Venice,” an independent film directed by TV and movie actor Chris Messina. “Alex of Venice” has been selected to appear in the Spotlight section of the 13th annual Tribeca Film Festival in April.
Simpson Thacher represented JPMorgan, as administrative agent, in connection with $800 million of credit facilities for borrowers Dealertrack Technologies, Inc. (“Dealertrack”) and Dealertrack Canada, Inc. The credit facilities consisted of a $575 million term loan B facility and a $225 million revolving credit facility. The proceeds of the term loan B facility were used in part to finance the cash consideration for the acquisition of Dealer Dot Com, Inc.
A Weil team, led by New York partners Morgan Bale and Matthew Bloch, advised Morgan Stanley in connection with providing $1.9 billion of committed bridge financing (and related matters) backing UIL Holdings Corporation’s acquisition of Philadelphia Gas Works, the nation’s largest municipally-owned natural gas utility, from the City of Philadelphia for $1.86 billion. The acquisition is subject to approval by the Philadelphia City Council and state regulators and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
The Sydney office of Norton Rose Fulbright has acted as Australian adviser and deal counsel for the Independent State of Papua New Guinea on its subscription for 149.39 million shares in Oil Search Limited and financing provided by UBS AG, Australia Branch.
Slaughter and May is advising Premier Foods plc ('Premier Foods') on its £1,128 million capital refinancing plan (the 'Capital Refinancing Plan'), announced on 4 March 2014.
The plan has the following four components:
DLA Piper's Debt Finance team, part of the Finance & Projects group, closed three major deals last week indicating a significant increase in activity in the market.
Firstly, the Debt Finance team advised RBS and Santander in the refinancing of facilities which supported Hutton Collins and Management's acquisition of the Byron Hamburger chain. The team working on this deal included partner Philip Butler, legal director Andy Rose, senior associate Andrew Papworth and associate Mike Tanner.
Watson, Farley & Williams has advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“CACIB”) in relation to a US$200m loan facility made available to Petredec to provide financing for its acquisition of four 84,000 CBM LPG carriers under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd in South Korea.
WFW London advised CACIB on the facility, which was signed on 21 February 2014, and comprises a K-Sure insured tranche and a commercial tranche in relation to each of the newbuildings.
Slaughter and May advised Countrywide plc, the UK's largest integrated property services group, including the largest estate agency and lettings network, on an agreement to increase the amount of its current finance facilities from £100 million to £150 million. The increased finance facilities will provide finance for the general corporate purposes of the Countrywide group, including the funding of potential acquisitions.
Warsaw/Kyiv-Dentons acted as legal counsel to Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A., Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A., BRE Bank S.A., ING Bank Slaski S.A. on the PLN 495 million (approx. US$162 million)multipurpose financing to Inter Cars S.A., the biggest automotive spare parts distributor for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and trucks in Middle-Eastern Europe.