Shanghai: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Banco Santander on its establishment of an independent auto financing joint venture with Chinese automobile manufacturer Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. (JAC) with an initial capital of around US$80 million. The joint venture, Fortune Auto Finance Co, recently received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Santander and JAC each have a 50% stake in the company.

Allen & Overy LLP has advised BSG Real Estate Limited (BSGRE) on the formation of a joint venture with SIGNA Prime Selection AG (SIGNA) in relation to a high street retail store portfolio in Germany. The joint venture received merger-control approval in Germany on 9 January 2013 and forms part of the long term strategy for both companies to have a presence in this growing market.

Ashurst has advised Westfield on the property and asset management aspects of its joint venture with Hammerson to redevelop and combine the two main shopping centres in Croydon. This included establishing a 50:50 joint venture asset management company and dealing with the acquisition by the new partnership of the Centrale shopping centre and Royal London's 25% stake in the Whitgift Centre.

This mixed use scheme of around 200,000 m2 will include retail, leisure and residential with the potential for hotels and offices, and will create over 5,000 new jobs.

Clifford Chance and Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm advised Mondele-z International on a joint venture with Olayan Group and Khalifa Algosaibi Group to launch a distribution joint venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Mondele-z International is the largest snack company in the world and this joint venture marks their continued expansion into Saudi Arabia, where its products have been distributed for almost a century

Clifford Chance has advised long-standing client Hammerson plc on a 50:50 joint venture with Westfield to redevelop the Whitgift and Centrale Shopping Centres in Croydon.

Under the new joint venture agreement, Westfield and Hammerson intend to redevelop and combine the two main Croydon shopping centres, the Whitgift Centre and Centrale, to deliver a comprehensive and transformational change to Croydon. The mixed use scheme of around 200,000 m2  will include retail, leisure, residential with the potential for hotels and offices, and will create over 5,000 new jobs.

Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”), a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that it has advised Winch Energy, a UK developer and operator of solar power generating projects, on the negotiation and definition of the terms of partnership with Onda Energia, the largest gas and electricity broker in both Sicily and Sardinia, following the acquisition of the Sardinian group Energit, a company operating in the electricity market.

DLA Piper represented US-based Sorteo Games Inc., a leading provider of electronic lottery systems, in an exclusive long-term strategic alliance in Mexico with leading Australian interactive lottery business Jumbo Interactive Ltd.

Global law firm Eversheds has advised NewRiver Retail Limited ("NewRiver"), the UK REIT specialising in value-creating retail property investment and active asset management, on a new joint venture ("the Joint Venture") with LVS Luxembourg IV Sarl ("LVS"), a subsidiary of PIMCO BRAVO Fund, L.P.
 
The Joint Venture completed its first acquisition on 20 December of an £85 million UK wide major shopping centre portfolio at an attractive net initial yield of 9.7%.

International legal practice Norton Rose is advising ArcelorMittal in its agreement to sell a 15% interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary, ArcelorMittal Mines Canada, for $1.1 billion to a consortium led by South Korea’s POSCO and Taiwan’s China Steel Corporation.