DLA Piper today announces that it has advised an infrastructure investment fund managed by BTG Pactual, the Brazilian investment bank, asset manager and wealth manager, on the central "take or pay" contract that is part of the acquisition by BTG Pactual of the Globenet submarine cable network from Brazilian telecoms operator Oi. The acquisition is valued at over US$ 750m, and is one of the largest ever submarine cable acquisitions.

Shoosmiths - which advised Vivergo Fuels on the UK's largest biorefinery - was among guests invited to attend the official opening of the £350m plant.

The national law firm provided real estate, development, planning, construction, environmental, tax, employment, commercial agreement and litigation advice regarding the biorefinery, near Hull.

Linklaters has advised the NORMA Group AG on its conversion into a company under European law (Societas Europaea/SE). The company now operates under the name NORMA Group SE, registration in the commercial register of the Local Court of Hanau has been completed, and the registered office remains in Maintal.

News Corp announced today that it plans to move its entire London operations to a single location in The Place on the Southbank of the Thames, alongside The Shard in the heart of the London Bridge Quarter. Hogan Lovells represented News Corp in this transaction.

In a ground-breaking step forward for Scotland, DLA Piper has advised on the £264 million Step Change (Rest of Scotland) agreement which aims to deliver significant improvements in broadband services for Scotland.

Step Change is a next generation access (NGA) broadband project procured under the DCMS Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) Framework. It aims to deliver the Scottish Government's interim Digital Scotland objectives, building towards a world class broadband infrastructure by 2020.

Slaughter and May is advising Okavango Diamond Company ('ODC'), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of the Republic of Botswana ('Government'), on the establishment and launch of its online sales platform for the auctioning of rough diamonds in Botswana.

ODC is holding a pilot sale in Gaborone from 26 June 2013 to test the sales platform, ahead of a full launch of its commercial sales operations in September 2013.

Global law firm Eversheds has advised a consortium of three UK further education colleges on establishing a women’s college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

North East Surrey College of Technology (NESCOT) has lead a Consortium and to secure a £75M contract to run a women-only vocational training institute in Saudi Arabia. The NESCOT consortium consists of three high quality large further education colleges and working in partnership with NESCOT are Highbury College Portsmouth and Burton and South Derbyshire College (BSDC).

The circa £1.6 billion TRSP project, which reached financial close today, involves the procurement of 1,140 rolling stock vehicles to be used on the Thameslink rail line and two maintenance depots as part of a £6 billion upgrade to radically increase capacity and reliability on one of Europe’s busiest stretches of railway. The TRSP comprises an innovative hybrid contractual structure involving both traditional rolling stock leasing as well as PPP/PFI elements.

Linklaters has advised on the procurement for the manufacture and maintenance of rolling stock for the UK rail operator Thameslink’s network. The funding requirement for this project is in the order of £1.8 billion of which £1.6 billion will be met through senior debt.

This project is a highly significant infrastructure project for the UK. Linklaters advised the rolling stock provider, Cross London Trains Limited, a joint venture between Innisfree PFI Secondary Fund 2 LP, 3i Infrastructure plc and Siemens Project Ventures GmbH.

The organisation behind the Manchester Jazz Festival has relocated to a new headquarters on 40 Fountain Street with the help of law firm, Irwin Mitchell.
 
The 10-day festival, which is now in its 18th year, starts on the 26th of July 2013 and will see performances across the city in a range of venues including; Band On The Wall, The Midland Hotel and Bridgwater Hall, and of course the “Teepee” in Albert Square.