ASL Aviation Group Ltd, a Dublin-based aviation group, has acquired Basel-based Farnair Group. Farnair comprises four airlines in Europe and Asia as well as two other service companies. Farnair provides a range of air cargo services and supplies charter aircraft to governmental and relief agencies as well as to the events industry and has operations in Europe, West Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and Oceania. The acquisition increases the number of affiliate airlines of ASL Aviation Group to 7, the number of aircraft operated to over 100 and its headcount to over 1,500.

Canon Inc. has announced a recommended public cash offer to the shareholders in the Swedish company Axis Aktiebolag to tender all their shares in Axis to Canon. The total value of the offering amounts to approximately SEK 23.6 billion.

Canon, with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a leader in the fields of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. Canon’s common shares are traded on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and its American Depositary Receipts are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Macfarlanes has advised Slater & Gordon on the acquisition of two UK consumer law firms, Walker Smith Way and Leo Abse and Cohen, which both specialise in personal injury law and have operations in Wales and North West England. Both acquisitions were signed on 9 February.

These two businesses secure a stronger foothold in North West England and Wales for Slater & Gordon and are expected to add a combined annual revenue of $A34.7m.

DLA Piper has advised Oakley Capital on the structuring and equity arrangements relating to the acquisition by Oakley Capital of a majority stake in the European operations of Damovo II Sarl.

As part of the transaction, Matthew Riley, founder of the Daisy Group, invested alongside Oakley Capital and has been appointed as the executive chairman of the new business.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co., Ltd. (CSR) on its acquisition of Specialist Machine Developments Limited (SMD) from Inflexion Private Equity Partners and members of management.

CSR is part of the CSR Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric locomotives.

The acquisition was announced on 5 February, pricing SMD at an enterprise value of £120m. Completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory filings in the PRC.

San Sac has acquired the Tomra Compaction division from Tomra, a company listed on Oslo Børs.

Tomra Compaction develops, manufactures and markets a wide product range of balers and compactors for recyclable materials under the name “Orwak”. San Sac was acquired together with EnviroPac in October 2014 by the investment fund Accent Equity 2012, and the acquisition of Tomra Compaction is another step in consolidating the waste management solutions market.

Shoosmiths has advised leading property consultants GBR Phoenix Beard on the acquisition of Optic Asset Management, a niche property management company based in London and Leeds.

Shoosmiths corporate partner Ben Turner led the deal with assistance from corporate solicitor Georgina Gurnhill, tax partner Kate Featherstone and employment solicitor Liz Parkin.

Shoosmiths has advised on the acquisition of Homesitters Limited, a market-leading provider of homesitting and petsitting services to clients throughout the UK.

Shoosmiths' partner Adam Dowdney, together with solicitors Catherine Wigmore and Robert Pook, advised Dr Alan Irvine on the acquisition, and additional specialist legal advice was given from a range of other departments throughout the firm.

This represents the second transaction on which Shoosmiths has advised Dr Irvine this year, after advising him on the sale of the Orion Group in June 2014.

The Linklaters legal team has advised Bonnier Business Polska, the publisher of inter alia “Puls Biznesu” daily, on the acquisition of 100 percent of shares in the Bankier.pl Group, which is the owner of leading specialised portals, including bankier.pl launched in 2000.

WEKA Business Media acquires an 80 per cent stake in LWO Lernwerkstatt Olten, a Switzerland-based professional training course services provider.

VISCHER advises WEKA Business Media in this transaction on all legal aspects. The team acting for WEKA comprises Robert Bernet (Partner Corporate/M&A), Peter Kühn and Marius Meier(both Senior Associates Corporate/M&A) and Gili Fridland (Employment).