Ashurst advised BAML and Barclays (as joint bookrunners) in relation to an accelerated bookbuild placing for AIM-listed oil & gas company Bowleven plc. The new shares issued in the fundraising (which also included a private placement) represent just under 10 per cent of the issued capital of Bowleven and raised approximately US$21 million. The proceeds of the fundraising are to be used to progress Bowleven's oil & gas assets in Cameroon.

Herbert Smith Freehills is advising Morgan Stanley in relation to their role as sole underwriter and lead manager of National Storage REIT’s initial public offering and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.

National Storage REIT will be the first independent, fully-integrated owner and operator of self-storage centres listed on the ASX. National Storage commenced operations in 2000 and is one of the largest operators and managers of self-storage centres in Australia with 62 self-storage centres under its operation or management and over 23,000 customers.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Schematrentaquattro S.r.l. (Benetton Group) on the block trades, through an accelerated book build, of 23,360,600 ordinary shares in Autogrill S.p.A. and 23,300,480 ordinary shares in World Duty Free S.p.A..

The shares correspond, respectively, to 9.18% and 9.15% of the share capital of Autogrill and World Duty Free and represent a total amount equal to €338 million.

Skadden represented UNIQA Insurance Group AG, one of the leading insurance groups in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, in connection with its €760 million capital increase.

Skadden represented the largest shareholder, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Estate of Leona M. Helmsley, in the initial public offering of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., which closed on October 7. The IPO has been reported as the second-largest in history for a U.S. real estate investment trust.

Global law firm White & Case LLP acted as the underwriters' counsel in the initial public offering of ALROSA, the world's largest diamond company with listing on the Moscow Stock Exchange. The deal is Russia's largest privatisation transaction since 2006, the largest public offering of local shares in Russia and one of the largest resource sector offerings in recent years. The offering represented a transaction value of RUB41.3 billion roubles (US$1.3 billion).

The Firm recently represented Sharp Corporation in connection with its offering of 450 million shares of common stock, which included an international offering to institutional investors pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. The offering raised approximately ¥120 billion.

The international offering was led by Nomura International plc, Mizuho International plc and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc. Sharp raised an additional ¥17.5 billion through concurrent third-party allotments to strategic partners.

The Firm represented ClubCorp Holdings, Inc. ("ClubCorp"), a portfolio company of KSL Capital Partners, LLC, and a selling stockholder affiliated with KSL Capital Partners, LLC (the “Selling Stockholder”), in connection with an initial public offering of common stock. ClubCorp issued and sold 13,200,000 shares of common stock in the offering and the Selling Stockholder sold 7,499,781 shares of common stock in the offering, including shares that were sold by the Selling Stockholder pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ option.

Simpson Thacher represented the underwriters, led by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, in the initial public offering by CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (“CommScope”), a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group (“Carlyle”), of an aggregate of 38,461,537 shares of its common stock. A total of approximately $576.9 million in proceeds was raised in the offering.

Bird & Bird today announces that its Corporate teams in London and Singapore have advised UK headquartered company, SyQic, on its AIM IPO.

Founded in 2004, SyQic is a fast growing OTT provider of live TV and on-demand paid video content for mobile phones and tablets, and will have a market capitalisation of £15 million on admission.