Allen & Overy has advised Hewlett-Packard Corporation (HP) on the establishment of a new strategic joint venture with Tsinghua Holdings for its converged infrastructure business in China with the sale of a 51% stake in the new H3C for USD2.3bn.
Upon completion, the new H3C will be the exclusive provider for HP's server, storage and networking portfolio as well as HP's exclusive hardware support services in China.
Fieldfisher advised Fuse Universal on its agreement with Education Growth Partners for $10 million growth capital investment. The investment will be used to bolster traction in Corporate and Higher Education markets, expand sales & services operations in London, Cape Town and New York and accelerate the product roadmap.
Ashurst has advised National Indemnity Company (NICO) and the Australian branch of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (both subsidiary companies of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.) on a strategic relationship with Insurance Group Australia (IAG) involving reinsurance, an equity subscription and an asset sale.
This transaction marks the Berkshire Hathaway group's first investment into the Australian market and involves one of the largest quota share reinsurance treaties ever agreed.
The deal, which was announced on 16 June 2015, involves:
Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Abacus Property Group on the establishment of a joint venture with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
The venture has exchanged contracts to acquire 201 Pacific Highway, part of the Forum complex located at the St Leonards railway station in Sydney. The consideration for the acquisition is A$115 million, with settlement planned for August.
Herbert Smith Freehills partner, Justin O’Farrell, led the team, assisted by senior associate, Laura Walsh.
Orex Minerals Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited have entered into a joint venture agreement with respect to the development of Orex’s Barsele Project. In connection with the joint venture, Orex has sold a 55% ownership interest in the project to Agnico Eagle. The main focus of the Barsele Project, located near Storuman in northern Sweden, is to discover and define gold and poly-metallic deposits.
Rolls-Royce, a leading manufacturer of aero engines, and Liebherr Aerospace have agreed to establish a Joint Venture to develop the manufacturing capability and capacity for the power gear box for a new Rolls-Royce generation of engines. The development is heading at substantially reducing the fuel burn of engines. For the highest thrust engines, each single gear box will be capable of handling the equivalent horse power produced by more than 500 family cars. The Joint Venture will provide production engineering for the power gear drive train components.
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has advised Insurance Australia Group (IAG) on a long-term strategic relationship with Berkshire Hathaway.
The strategic relationship is underpinned by a 10 year 20% quota share arrangement across IAG’s consolidated insurance business and an approximately 3.7% investment in IAG by Berkshire Hathaway via a $500million share placement. It is the first investment in an Australian company for Berkshire Hathaway.
Allen & Overy has advised the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) on its USD600 million serviced residence joint venture with The Ascott Limited. Qatar Holding LLC (one of the investment arms of QIA) and Ascott Serviced Residence (Global) Investment Pte. Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Ascott Limited) have each taken a 50% interest in the joint venture company, Ascott Serviced Residence (Global) Fund Pte. Ltd (the JV Company). QIA and Ascott intend to contribute up to USD300 million each in equity to the JV Company during the investment term.
Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Sound Oil, the Mediterranean-focused upstream oil and gas company, on the development of its business strategy with the Moroccan Oil and Gas Investment Fund (“OGIF”) in relation to the acquisition of part of the Tendrara licence, onshore Morocco.
The onshore Tendrara Licence is a large scale onshore gas discovery with significant exploration upside. It covers a total area of 14,500 square kilometres in northeast Morocco.
Fieldfisher advised KEFI Minerals plc, the AIM-quoted gold exploration and development company, on the negotiation of its mining agreement with the Ministry of Mines of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the granting to KEFI of a large scale mining licence for its Tulu Kapi gold project. The mining agreement was signed at a formal ceremony at the Ministry of Mines by His Excellency Ato Tolossa Shagi, the Minister of Mines, and Harry Adams, Executive Chairman of KEFI.