International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised the underwriters on the US$546m global offering and listing of Bank of Chongqing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange which took place today.

The listing represents the first IPO of a Chinese bank in three years.

Freshfields advised a consortium of the underwriters on the IPO, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BOCOMI, CICC, ABCI, CCBI and ICBCI.

Field Fisher Waterhouse has advised the London-based broker Mirabaud Securities LLP on a US$ 100 million fundraising for the African focused oil and gas exploration and production company Lekoil Limited.

Mirabaud Securities acted as sole bookrunner on what is one of the largest fundraisings on AIM this year, raising approximately US$ 100 million (£62 million) for Lekoil through the placing of, in aggregate, 113,282,000 new ordinary shares at a placing price of 55 pence per ordinary share.

Davis Polk advised Hitachi, Ltd. as the selling stockholder in connection with an SEC-registered secondary offering of 12,500,000 shares of Western Digital Corporation common stock. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as lead book-running managers and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as joint book-running manager for the offering. The total net proceeds to Hitachi from the offering were approximately $810 million. 

Ashurst has advised the underwriters, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, Numis Securities Limited and Canaccord Genuity Limited, on the £420 million IPO of Foxtons Group plc and its admission to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and admission to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc.

Singapore: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised joint bookrunners, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, CIMB Investment Bank Berhad, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered, on the international law aspects of the listing of UMW Oil & Gas Corp. Bhd. on Bursa Malaysia.

Allen & Overy LLP has advised the banking syndicate led by Credit Suisse AG (acting as Global Coordinator ) on the successful IPO of Cembra Money Bank AG , formerly GE Money Bank AG, one of the leading consumer credit banks in Switzerland , on the SIX Swiss Exchange AG . It is the sixth-largest IPO in the EMEA Economic Area this year and the second largest IPO of a bank since the start of the 2008 financial crisis. In Switzerland it is the largest IPO since March 2012 and the fifth-largest of the entire decade.

Herbert Smith Freehills was named Corporate Law Firm of the Year by the Australian Financial Review at its annual CFO Awards. The CFO Awards is one of Australia’s most prestigious award programs and acknowledges the very best firms and leaders in the finance sector over the past 12 months.

Herbert Smith Freehills is advising Chinese solar panels maker Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Limited on the placement of 400,000,000 new shares to raise US$144 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Firm acted as U.S. counsel for the underwriters, led by BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank and Citigroup, in a secondary offering by certain shareholders of BRP Inc. (“BRP”), including affiliates of Bain Capital.  The shares were offered publicly in Canada and in the United States in reliance on Rule 144A.

Davis Polk advised Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC as joint book-running managers in connection with the $151.2 million public offering of common stock by Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and certain of its selling stockholders. The common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "PTLA." 

Davis Polk advised Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Allen & Company LLC and Barclays Capital, Inc.