Defence sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised Ascent (a 50:50 joint venture between Babcock and Lockheed Martin) on its £1.1bn deal under the overarching United Kingdom Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) contract with the Ministry of Defence.

The deal comprises contracts with:

* Airbus to deliver 32 training helicopters (29 H135s and 3 H145s) along with through life support
* Lockheed Martin and Babcock to deliver the ground based training equipment and infrastructure to support the delivery of the rotary wing training capability

London—Dentons has advised CAF on new contracts for the supply of two fleets of rolling stock to First TransPennine Express Limited (FTPEL) and related spares supply and maintenance services. The contracts include the supply of 66 passenger cars to be financed by Beacon Rail Finance (Europe) Limited, and the supply of 12 five-car electric multiple units that will be financed by Eversholt Rail Group Limited. Both sets of rolling stock will operate on the TransPennine Express franchise that runs regional passenger services between the major cities of Northern England and also Scotland.

The Global Infrastructure Group at Squire Patton Boggs has advised John Laing Infrastructure Fund Limited (JLIF) on an agreement for the acquisition of the P3 concession for 23 service plazas in the US.

Shearman & Sterling advised Alpha Bank and Eurobank on the agreement they have reached with KKR Credit in which the banks agree to assign the management of certain exposures to a selected number of Greek companies into a platform managed by Pillarstone. 

The platform will provide fresh long-term capital and operational expertise to large Greek corporate borrowers helping them stabilize, recover and grow for the benefit of all stakeholders. The Greek banks will share in the upside as the businesses’ performance recovers. 

Simpson Thacher represented McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) in connection with a sourcing agreement for generic pharmaceuticals entered into with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). McKesson and Walmart will collaborate on sourcing generic pharmaceuticals for their respective U.S. operations, adding scale and value for both companies. The new sourcing agreement leverages McKesson’s demonstrated strength and expertise in the global pharmaceutical industry and Walmart’s proven commitment to delivering leading health and wellness services at an everyday low price.

Stibbe advises Hudson’s Bay on its plans to enter the Dutch retail market by opening up to 20 new department stores in the Netherlands over the next 24 months. The first department stores are expected to be opened in the summer of 2017 and will operate under the Hudson's Bay banner as well as the Saks OFF 5TH banner. Read Hudson’s Bay’s press release here.

Slaughter and May has been advising Sir Richard Lapthorne in relation to the changes to the board of directors of CPPGroup Plc (CPP), which took place at a shareholder meeting of CPP held on 5 May 2016.

Slaughter and May has since been appointed to act for CPP.

The shareholder meeting was requisitioned by Schroders, one of CPP's shareholders. The requisition, served on CPP on 18 March 2016, called for the removal of four existing directors of CPP and the appointment of Sir Richard Lapthorne (as Chairman), along with Nick Cooper and Mark Hamlin as directors.

Watson Farley Williams Asia Practice LLP (“WFWAP”), the Singapore office of International law firm, Watson Farley & Williams has advised and assisted Thai dry-bulk owner operator, Precious Shipping Public Company Limited (“PSL”) with the settlement and cancellations in connection with a series of (originally) ten ultramax vessel orders at Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering (“Sanfu”), China.

Bird & Bird LLP has advised long-standing client PostNL on all legal aspects of the client’s strategic review in Germany as well as the implementation of the strategic realignment.

PostNL is an international corporation listed at Euronext Amsterdam. Their business primarily focuses on the delivery of documents as well as small and standard packages. It also provides marketing and communication services, processing solutions and other e-commerce related services.

Simpson Thacher is representing Silver Lake, which is part of a consortium with AltaOne Capital LLP, in connection with their consortium arrangements and a sale and purchase agreement to acquire 37.6% of the share capital of Cegid Group, a leading French enterprise management software and cloud services provider. The closing of the block purchase will be followed by the filing of a mandatory tender offer for the remaining share capital of Cegid Group with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers in France.