Macfarlanes has advised GE Capital, HSBC and RBS in relation to a new £70m facility made available to wealth adviser Towry. The facility has been used to refinance Towry's existing senior and mezzanine facilities into a single, all-senior debt package.  It also includes acquisition financing for Towry to make further acquisitions in the sector.

The Towry group was created through a series of acquisitions by private equity owner Palamon from 2003 onwards, and now has in excess of £5.5bn of assets under management.

Slaughter and May, working as a team with Uría Menéndez, advised Caixa d’Estalvis I Pensions de Barcelona "la Caixa" on its issue of EUR 1 billion 2.375% senior unsecured notes due 2019.

Barclays, CaixaBank, S.A., Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as Joint Lead Managers. Application has been made for the bonds to be admitted to listing and trading on the Spanish AIAF Fixed Income Securities Market.

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Financing: Miranda Leung (partner), Thomas Jemmett (associate)

Linklaters has advised the Bank of China on its first offshore Renminbi (RMB) ‘Schengen bond’. This bond, which will be listed on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, means that the Bank of China to be the first Chinese mainland company to issue RMB bonds in the Eurozone.

This three-year bond, priced at 3.50%, amounts to a total of RMB 1.5 billion and is issued under the USD 10 billion MTN program of the Bank of China Group.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin advised the Alain Afflelou Group on the refinancing of its existing debt package. The refinancing was implemented by high yield bonds (€440 million) comprising €365 million 5.625% of senior secured bonds and €75 million 7.875% senior bonds. The refinancing also includes a super senior revolver credit of €30 million.

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce that the Greater China debt capital markets team has advised on three separate bond issuances in Hong Kong over the past four weeks. The deals have raised a total of US$4.1 billion.

The firm acted for two major Chinese banks on dim sum bond issuances—RMB2.5 billion (US$413 million) of yuan-denominated bonds by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and RMB1 billion (US$165 million) of yuan-denominated bonds by China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised State Grid Corporation of China, the world's largest public utilities company, on its US$3.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S senior guaranteed notes issuance in Hong Kong.

The issuer's notes were offered in three tranches— US$1.25 billion 2.750% guaranteed senior notes due 2019, US$1.6 billion 4.125% guaranteed senior notes due 2024 and US$650 million 4.850% guaranteed senior notes due 2044.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the Joint Lead Managers of Westpac Banking Corporation’s (Westpac) offer of hybrid securities known as Westpac Capital Notes 2 (Notes), which are fully paid, non-cumulative, convertible, transferable, redeemable, subordinated, perpetual, unsecured notes of Westpac (Offer). The Offer was launched on 7 May 2014 and is expected to raise approximately A$750 million, with the ability to raise more or less.

The Notes are being offered at an issue price of $100 each and are expected to be quoted on the ASX.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised on a US$300 million bond offering by India's largest automobile manufacturer, Tata Motors Ltd. The Mumbai-based company's latest offering marks its first U.S. dollar denominated bond issuance in the international debt capital markets.

Herbert Smith Freehills acted as sole international counsel to ANZ, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and HSBC as joint lead managers for the offering. In addition, a separate Herbert Smith Freehills team based in Hong Kong advised Citicorp as trustee for the bond issue.

White & Case LLP has advised Citigroup Global Markets Inc. as the sole bookrunner on a landmark Rule 144A/Regulation S high yield bond offering by Banglalink Digital Communications Limited, the second largest mobile telecoms operator in Bangladesh in terms of market share. Banglalink issued US$300 million 8.625 percent Senior Notes due 2019.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised a group of seventeen international, regional and local banks on a EUR 3.15 billion multi-currency club deal for Emirates Telecommunications Corporation ("Etisalat").  The financing has been raised using a DIFC SPV as borrower whose obligations are guaranteed by Etisalat, to fund the acquisition of Vivendi's 53% stake in Maroc Telecom.

The financing is split between two facilities which can be utilised in USD or EUR, a short-term bridge loan of EUR 2.1 billion, and a EUR 1.05 billion, three-year bullet term loan.