Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised CITIC Group and CITIC Limited on the proposed sale and subscription of shares to a consortium of investors formed by CP Group (CPG) and ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU), for a cumulative value of US$10.3bn.

The two transactions were both announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today.

Under the proposal, CITIC Limited will allot and issue 3,327,721,000 fully paid convertible preference shares for a total consideration of HK$45.9bn (US$5.92bn) to CT Bright, a joint venture established by CPG and ITOCHU.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Norfund on the agreement to purchase of a stake of 12.223% in Equity Group Holdings Ltd. (“Equity”) from Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”). The deal is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.

Norfund is the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries. Established by the Norwegian Parliament in 1997, Norfund’s objective is to contribute to sustainable commercial businesses in developing countries. NorFinance is a joint venture between Norfund and Norwegian private equity investors.

For the second time, LETT has succeeded in negotiating a settlement between Jyske Bank and investors having lost money on so-called JIHMO shares.

The settlement ends a group action against Jyske Bank and Jyske Invest by the bank compensating 80% of the investors' losses, equivalent to approximately DKK 23 million. The case is an offshoot of an earlier group action with 1,100 investors resolved by a settlement on similar conditions. Altogether, LETT has assisted approximately 1,200 JIHMO investors in having more than DKK 220 million of their losses compensated.

Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that it advised SoftBank Corp. as the lead investor in the US$600 million Series D financing of KuaiDi Dache, a leading mobile taxi booking app in China. SoftBank Corp. (TYO:9984) and its subsidiaries and associates offer a comprehensive range of mobile communications, fixed-line communications and internet services around the world.
Alibaba Group and Tiger Global participated in the financing, which aims to expand and improve KuaiDi Dache’s services in China.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick), leading legal advisor to the technology sector globally, advised JD.com Inc. (JD; NASDAQ: JD), the leading e-commerce company in China, in its investment into Chinese auto information website operator Bitauto Holdings Ltd. (Bitauto; NYSE: BITA). JD along with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (Tencent; SEHK: 00700), a leading internet services provider in China and best known for its communications app WeChat, has agreed to invest a total of approximately US$1.55 billion to further develop Bitauto.

Macfarlanes has advised investment firm 17Capital LLP on the raising of its third fund (17Capital Fund 3), which closed above target with commitments of €500m

This new fund will continue the established and distinct investment strategy of 17Capital’s predecessor funds by providing highly-flexible preferred equity to private equity investors.

Linklaters has advised B/E Aerospace, Inc. on the spin-off of its consumables management segment businesses to KLX Inc. and certain legal aspects of the internal corporate restructuring related to same. ”Regular-way” trading in the shares of KLX began on 17 December 2014. Within the framework of the spin-off, all outstanding KLX shares were distributed to B/E Aerospace, Inc.’s stockholders.

Mapillary AB has announced a $1.5 million seed investment round led by Sequoia Capital. Other investors include the London-based funds Playfair and Wellington and New York based LDV Capital.

Mapillary’s app allows anyone to use a smartphone or other devices like GoPro, Garmin Virb and low flying drones to collect photos that are combined into a street level view. The company currently has around 6 million photos uploaded and has mapped 200,000 square kilometres of the planet.

King & Wood Mallesons advised Pechel Industries on its new investment of €8.5 million into Recaero Group, a major player in the aircraft industry specialising in spare parts manufacturing, sub-assembly and modification kits at short notice, alongside the founder family.

Ashurst has advised Oranje-Nassau Energie B.V. ("ONE") on its proposed acquisition of a 50% interest in the Sean field, located in the UK's Southern North Sea, from Shell U.K. Limited and Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited. ONE would also like to seek joint venture approval to take over operatorship of these assets.

Completion of the transaction is subject to approval from the UK regulator and SSE.