Herbert Smith Freehills is advising Morgan Stanley and National Australia Bank as joint lead managers and underwriters for Arena REIT’s initial public offering and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. Arena REIT is one of Australia’s largest owners of child care properties, holding a portfolio valued at over $220 million. It will raise $75 million of new money under the IPO.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by funds M&A partner Justin O’Farrell and executive counsel Lauren Magraith, supported by lawyer Adrian Amer.

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising Partnership Assurance Group plc, a leading provider of non-standard annuities which offer better terms to customers with medical conditions, together with its majority shareholder, Cinven, on its proposed initial public offering (IPO) and London premium listing.

The IPO is expected to comprise the sale of a portion of Partnership’s existing ordinary shares held by funds managed and advised by leading European private equity firm Cinven and management, and an issue of new ordinary shares by Partnership.

Ashurst has advised Drillsearch Energy Limited (Drillsearch) on its US$125m offer of senior, unsecured, guaranteed convertible bonds.

Drillsearch Energy is an oil and gas explorer and producer, focused on the highly-prospective Cooper-Eromanga Basin, which is located in Central Australia and spans the north-eastern region of South Australia and the south-western region of Queensland.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited (Macquarie) in relation to its role as sole bookrunner, lead manager and underwriter for Mirvac Group’s (Mirvac) A$400 million fully underwritten institutional placement, announced on Friday, 10 May 2013. Mirvac has also announced an intention to launch a non-underwritten security purchase plan for up to $15,000 per eligible securityholder. The proceeds from the issue will be used to fund Mirvac’s acquisition of a select portfolio of office assets from GE Real Estate Investments Australia.

Allen & Overy LLP advised Credit Suisse AG and UBS AG as joint bookrunners on the capital increase of Switzerland-based Meyer Burger Technology AG.
The capital increase by way of a rights issue comprised a total of 36,107,263 new registered shares at a subscription price of CHF 4.20 each.

By the end of the subscription period on 7 May 2013, a total of 99.62% of the subscription rights were exercised, i.e. nearly 36 million new registered shares were subscribed.  Trading in the new shares on SIX Swiss Exchange started on 8 May 2013.

A Travers Smith team led by Corporate Partner, Andrew Gillen, advised Rothschild (as sponsor), Canaccord Genuity (as nomad, sole broker and lead bookrunner) and HSBC (as joint bookrunner) on the £73m placing and open offer by Tyman plc to finance the acquisition of Truth Hardware, a North American window and door hardware manufacturer, from Melrose Industries PLC, and Tyman's proposed move from AIM to the Official List. Tyman is an international supplier of components to the door and window industry.

Slaughter and May is advising Standard Chartered PLC (the 'Company') on the implementation of a partial two-way fungibility programme enabling the redemption of Indian Depository Receipts ('IDRs') issued by the Company into ordinary shares of the Company ('Shares') and the conversion of Shares into IDRs.

The Shares to be released on redemption of IDRs will be registered on the UK share register and traded on the London Stock Exchange.
 
Contacts

Corporate: Nilufer von Bismarck (partner), Richard Marron (associate)

DLA Piper has acted for Sinopharm, China's largest pharmaceutical company, on the HK$4bn sale of new shares, the second H share placement for Sinopharm since its HK$8bn IPO in 2009.

The sale - the fourth largest equity capital-raising in Asia this year through a private placement - saw 165.7 million shares being sold to between six and ten non-retail investors at HK$24.60 each. Sinopharm will use the net proceeds to fund the expansion of its distribution and retail network.

Linklaters has advised the investments banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in their roles as joint bookrunners for Daimler AG in the disposal of its remaining 7.5% interest in the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Co. (EADS). Institutional investors in particular were very interested in the approx. 61.1 million shares priced at €37 per share. EADS acquired shares for €600 million from the placement. Daimler plans to invest the approx. €2.2 billion proceeds from the sale in its global growth and technological development.

Ashurst advised Jefferies and N+1 Singer on the £42.3 million placing by Hargreaves Services plc, a leading AIM-listed owner and operator of surface mines in the UK. Jefferies International and N+1 Singer Advisory acted as joint bookrunners in connection with the placing, which was conducted through an accelerated book-building process.