Slaughter and May is advising Daily Mail and General Trust plc, the largest shareholder of ZPG plc, on the recommended cash acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of ZPG plc by a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of funds managed by Silver Lake Management Company V, LLC. The transaction was announced on 11 May 2018.

Travers Smith LLP Corporate Partner Richard Spedding and Head of Finance Matthew Ayre have advised Robey Warshaw in its capacity as financial adviser to Comcast on its cash offer for Sky plc, formally announced on 25 April 2018.

The cash consideration payable under the offer is being financed by an unsecured bridge credit agreement of up to £16bn and an unsecured term loan credit agreement of up to £7bn. The transaction is the latest in a line of cash confirmation mandates for Travers Smith over the last 12 months.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW“) has advised BPM S.p.A. (Gruppo Banco BPM – “BPM”) and Mediocredito Centrale S.p.A. (“Mediocredito”) on a financing of up to €18.2m to Marnavi Chem S.r.l. (“Marnavi Chem”), for the construction of a chemical tanker at Chinese shipyard Shuangliu Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd.

Freeths’ Sheffield office continues to grow its business and commercial offering with the recruitment of a new Partner and Associate to its Sheffield Dispute Resolution team. These appointments strengthen the already excellent depth and breadth of Freeths’ northern commercial disputes service provision.

Law firm CMS is pleased to announce that Elke Duden will join CMS as partner, as from 1 May 2018. Elke, a specialist in pensions and employment law, will be based in Antwerp and continue the practice of Jef Degrauwe, who headed the social law team there and will be retiring after a career of more than 40 years.

International law firm Bird & Bird today appoints James Fong as a partner, bolstering its Corporate practice in China.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP today announced that Denis A. Fallon (Archie) has joined the firm as a partner in its Houston office. Mr. Fallon was previously a partner in the Houston office of King & Spalding.“Archie’s strong transactional background in the energy industry will be a tremendous benefit to our energy fund clients,” said Bruce C. Herzog, Willkie’s partner in charge of the Houston office.

Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has further bolstered its global energy, infrastructure and resources practice with the addition of W. Eugene Chang as a partner in the Seoul office. Chang joins K&L Gates from the Tokyo office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where he was a senior counsel. He will begin his tenure with K&L Gates in the firm’s Tokyo office while completing his registration in Korea.

Baker McKenzie is pleased to announce that it has advised the Tokyo Stock Exchange listed LIFULL Co Ltd on its $187 million scheme of arrangement acquisition of the ASX listed Mitula Group Limited as announced to the ASX and TSE today.

The transaction will create a leading global online classifieds and marketplaces group in 63 countries with 170 million visits per month giving customers access to more traffic and a great range of products and services.

Investment AB Latour has, through its subsidiary Hultafors Group AB, signed an agreement to acquire Johnson Level & Tool Mfg. Co., Inc., (“Johnson”) based in Wisconsin in the United States.

Johnson is a well-recognized provider of layout and measuring tools, being a market leader in several channels of distribution.

The acquisition is part of Hultafors Group's strategy to strengthen its presence in North America.