Huanggang Urban Development and Investment Co., Ltd. recently retained attorneys from Dacheng’s Shanghai office as legal counsel on the issuance of RMB2.5bn worth of corporate bonds.

The issuance took place following the release of “Corporate Bond Review Handbook” by the National Development and Reform Commission, in which more detailed and stricter rules regarding lawyers’ work procedures and specific matters subject to review were set out.

Clifford Chance has advised Indiabulls Real Estate Limited as parent guarantor and Century Limited as issuer on the issuance of US$175 million 10.25% senior notes due 2019 listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). Deutsche Bank was the lead manager.

Bank of China's Tier 2: Clifford Chance has advised the lead managers on Bank of China's issue of US$3 billion 5% Tier 2 capital notes due 2024. The lead managers were Bank of China, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Wells Fargo Securities, Crédit Agricole, CIB, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho Securities and Morgan Stanley. Partners Matt Fairclough, Crawford Brickley and Fang Liu led on the deal and were supported by consultant David Tsai and associates Yue Song, Torrance Shi and Liu Gehuan.

Castren & Snellman acted as counsel in a finance arrangement where Sponda Plc signed a 5-year loan agreement for EUR 100 million with Swedbank AB (publ), Finnish Branch. The loan is unsecured. The C&S team included Partner Tero Tuomisto and Associate Aleksi Pekkala.

Vinge has advised Opus Group AB (publ), listed on NASDAQ Stockholm, in connection with a tap issue of SEK 300 million within the scope of its unsecured bond of SEK 500 million which was issued in January 2014. The tap issue was oversubscribed and issued under par corresponding to a floating coupon of 3 month STIBOR + 4.5%.

Vinge’s team consisted of responsible partner Anders Strid and associate Natalie Bäck.

Davis Polk advised Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch as initial purchaser in connection with the inaugural Regulation S offering by Century Limited, a direct subsidiary of Indiabulls Real Estate Limited, of its US$175 million 10.25% high-yield notes due 2019. The notes are guaranteed by Indiabulls Real Estate Limited and certain of its subsidiaries.

The offering is the first international bond offering by a real estate development company based in India.

Davis Polk advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as joint book-running managers on an SEC-registered offering by Statoil ASA of $3 billion principal amount of notes guaranteed by its operating subsidiary, Statoil Petroleum AS.

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, advised MTR Corporation Limited and MTR Corporation (C.I.) Limited on the annual update of their US$4 billion Medium Term Note Programme. Notes issued under the programme may be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. JP Morgan is the sole arranger under the programme.

CONTACTS

Corporate and Financing: Laurence Rudge (partner), Roger Cheng (associate), Jocelyn Poon (trainee).

Slaughter and May advised ISS, one of the world's leading facility services companies, on the establishment of a EUR 2 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme. ISS has established the Programme to obtain increased flexibility to pursue refinancings in the bond market. This follows on from ISS' refinancing in connection with its successful IPO earlier this year, on which Slaughter and May also advised.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Huaneng Power International Inc., one of China's largest listed power producers, on its HK$3.14 billion H-share placement.

The 365,000,000 H-shares placed by Huaneng Power represented 10.27 per cent of the size of its 3.55 billion total existing H-shares issued on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The net proceeds from the share placement are intended to be used for supplementing the company's working capital.