Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised on 18 major debt capital markets deals in Greater China in 2016.

Freshfields partner Andrew Heathcote said, “Our success this year is a testament to the strength of our clients, our market leading position and talented team.”

“Our performance in 2016 highlights the increasing strength of the Freshfields debt capital markets team and our ability to lead on large, first-of-kind transactions in Greater China,” added partner Calvin Lai.

Shearman & Sterling represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as joint book-running managers in connection with Ford Motor Company’s offering of its $1.5 billion aggregate principal amount of 4.346% notes due December 8, 2026 and $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.291% notes due December 8, 2046.

A team from the Banking & Finance and Capital Markets practice at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully completed their work providing legal support for a project called the Mortgage Securities Factory, a new tool used by the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML) to refinance mortgages.

The first bond placement under AHML’s Mortgage Securities Factory programme for single-tranche mortgage-secured bonds took place today, 28 December 2016.

Clifford Chance banking & finance team has advised a consortium of banks on a 5-year unsecured US$500 million loan for Soyuzneftegaz Vostok Limited (Cyprus), a subsidiary of PJSC “LUKOIL". The consortium included ING Bank N.V. (The Netherlands), Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg S.A. (Luxembourg), Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (Japan), Natixis (France), AO Raiffeisenbank (Russia), Raiffeisen Bank International AG (Austria), UniCredit S.p.A. (Italy) and VTB Bank (Deutschland) AG (Germany).

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised Sixt Leasing SE, one of the largest bank- and manufacturer-independent full-service leasing companies in Germany, on its successful EUR 250 million bond issuance. This is the first issuance of bonds on the capital markets for Sixt Leasing, whose shares are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since May 2015.

The bond has a term of four years and an interest coupon of 1.125% p.a. Berenberg, Commerzbank and UniCredit acted as joint lead managers for the bond issuance.

The Freshfields team advising on the transaction was drawn from across Freshfields’ global network and was led by partner Ward McKimm

London—Dentons has advised AIM-listed ULS Technology plc ("ULS"), the provider of online B2B platforms for the UK conveyancing and financial intermediary markets, on its acquisition of Conveyancing Alliance Holdings Limited ("Conveyancing Alliance") and its UK subsidiary Conveyancing Alliance Limited.

Ezdan Holding Group is a listed Qatar Public Shareholding Company and is one of the region's pre-eminent and largest real estate developers and investors. This financing is another successful and strategic financing for Ezdan and was oversubscribed by over 1.5 times. It follows the launch of its debut US$500 million Sukuk issuance earlier this year. Mashreqbank, Dubai Islamic Bank and HSBC Bank Middle East Limited were the bookrunners and initial mandated lead arrangers and were joined by seven other participant banks consisting of regional and international banks.

SINGAPORE, December 22, 2016 – Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP acted as counsel to the Shanghai-based Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“BOCOM Financial Leasing”), one of the leading China-based aircraft lessors, on a US$300 million dual-tranched offering of fixed-rate installment notes backed by eight Airbus aircraft.

Vienna, 22 December 2016 - As of 15 December 2016, EBRD's issue of RSD 2,500,000,000 Floating Rate Bonds due December 2019 has been admitted to trading on the Belgrade Stock Exchange. This issuance is the first by an international financial institution in Serbia; it is denominated in Serbian dinars and governed by Serbian law. Raiffeisen Banka AD, Beograd, acted as underwriter for the issuance with Citigroup Global Markets Limited acting as marketing agent.