Valora has agreed to acquire LS Distribution Suisse, which holds all shares in Naville, the leading integrated small-outlet retailer in French-speaking Switzerland. Naville operates an outlet network encompassing more than 175 units and also has one of the main logistics platforms in French-speaking Switzerland. The transaction is subject to merger control approval.

Slaughter and May is advising Ripplewood Advisors LLC in relation to its participation in the acquisition of a majority stake in a Latvian bank, AS Citadele banka for consideration of EUR 74 million.

Slaughter and May is working as a team with Glimstedt & Partners, who are advising as to Latvian law.

CONTACTS

Corporate and Commercial: Nilufer von Bismarck (partner), Jonathan Cohen (associate), Harriet Gallagher-Powell (associate); Tax: Dominic Robertson (partner), Charles Osborne (associate)

Houthoff Buruma advised Petrogas International E&P Co-operatief U.A. on the purchase of all the outstanding shares of Chevron Exploration and Production Netherlands B.V. (CEPN) from Chevron Netherlands Holdings B.V. Following the transition CEPN will be renamed Petrogas E&P Netherlands B.V. which will continue operations of its current assets and will develop over time a portfolio of exploration and development assets in the Netherlands.

Houthoff Buruma team included: Jacques Kröner, Maarten Blom, Marc van Beuge

Delphi has advised Nibe Industrier AB (publ) when the company utilised its call option to acquire the remaining 90% of the interests in the North American heat pump firm Enertech Global LLC. The first 10% of the interests in the company were acquired in November 2011 when Nibe took the first step into the North American heat pump market.

Enertech Global LLC was founded in 1996 and now has sales of around USD 33 million (approximately SEK 245 million), with an operating margin of approximately 10%. Enertech’s product portfolio consists mainly of geothermal heat pumps.

Takara Bio Inc., listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and specialized in biotechnologies and genetic engineering, acquired Cellectis AB, Swedish subsidiary of Cellectis SA, listed on the Alternext market of Euronext in Paris.

The transaction, announced during the summer, was completed.

Takara Bio Inc. was represented by the law firms de Gaulle Fleurance & Associés in coordination with Oh Ebashi in Japan and Lindahl and Nyman Rudenstam in Sweden.

Paul, Weiss client Cable & Wireless Communications Plc, a telecommunications services provider operating in 17 countries throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and the Seychelles, agreed to acquire Columbus International Inc. for approximately $1.85 billion - $707.5 million is in cash and the remainder in shares - and the assumption of Columbus' existing net debt of $1.17 billion. The Columbus acquisition will be funded through issuance of new equity and debt offerings. J.P. Morgan Bank N.A. has provided debt financing commitments, including backstop commitments, of $2.63 billion.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is advising NCI Building Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of metal products for the nonresidential building industry, in its definitive agreement to acquire Pittsburgh area-based CENTRIA, an internationally recognized leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of architectural insulated metal panel (IMP) wall and roof systems and a provider of integrated coil coating services for the nonresidential construction industry. 

Castrén & Snellman UL LLC in its acquisition of Futuremark Oy.  Futuremark is the market leading provider of performance benchmarking software. Futuremark develops the world’s most widely used performance tests for desktop computers, notebooks, tablets, smart phones and browsers. The company has its headquarters in Espoo, Finland, a sales office in Silicon Valley and sales representatives in Taiwan.

Private equity investor EQT acquired Siemens Audiology Solutions, the hearing device division of Siemens, together with the entrepreneurial family Strüngmann who co-invested by way of their investment vehicle Santo Holding. The transaction volume amounts to EUR2,5b.

The transaction is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

The following P+P-Team advised EQT with regard to the MPP:

 *  Benedikt Hohaus (partner)
 *  Barbara Koch-Schulte (partner)
 *  Julian Winkler (associate)

Setterwalls has advised WSP Global Inc in connection with its USD 1.31 billion acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of the entities comprising the business of Parsons Brinckerhoff Group Inc., the professional services division of Balfour Beatty plc. Setterwalls were Swedish legal advisors to WSP in the transaction.

Setterwalls' team comprised primarily Kristina Einarsson, Anders Grefberg, Kamilla Burman and Samuel Skybrand.