International law firm Gowling WLG has strengthened its global Tax and Funds team with the appointment of Ian Mason as Head of UK Financial Services and Regulatory (FSR).

With over 20 years' experience, Ian joins Gowling WLG as a partner from DLA Piper. Ian's primary focus as Head of UK Financial Services will be to build upon the firm's established FSR practice to grow the strength and depth of the team.

Herbert Smith Freehills, the international law firm, has announced that Frédéric Chevallier, a leading French patent litigator, will be joining the firm as a Partner. He will work closely with Alexandra Neri, Head of IP and TMT in Paris and Sophie Rich in London to further develop our patent litigation expertise across Europe.

Frédéric is a ""home grown"" talent, having been a junior associate in the firm's Paris office until December 2009, after which he left the firm to join the patent litigation team of Allen & Overy in Paris, where he was promoted to Counsel in May 2017.

TLT has hired Jon Hainey, immediate past president of Manchester Law Society and a 'Leading individual' in the industry's independent 'Legal 500' listings, as a partner in its commercial services group.

Our Italian real estate team advised BNP Paribas REIM on the acquisition of Viale Stelvio 55, a Class A office complex located in the CBD of Milan. Purchased through a €42 million investment, on behalf of its real estate fund Fundamenta, the 161,000 square foot property is fully leased, has state-of-the art features and is easily accessible by public transit.

The team was led by partner Emanuela Molinaro and included associate Christian Turotti.

Shearman & Sterling advised industrial conglomerate Textron on the sale of its Tools and Test Business (“Tools & Test”) to Emerson, a global technology and engineering company, for approximately $810 million.  The acquisition, joined with Emerson’s Ridge Tool Company, creates a global $1 billion professional tools business with the broadest offering for mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractors. The closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.

Simpson Thacher is representing Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”) in connection with its strategic partnership with bKash Limited in Bangladesh. As part of Ant Financial’s global strategy, the partnership involves Ant Financial investing into and sharing technological know-how with bKash in order to promote financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked communities in Bangladesh.

A team led by Boris Dürr, Partner at the law firm of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, advised Munich-based investment holding company Primepulse SE on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Katek GmbH including its subsidiaries in Austria and Hungary. The seller is Kathrein SE. With the acquisition of Katek, Primepulse strengthens its Electronics division that also includes Memmingen-based Steca Electronik, which was acquired in 2016, and takes another step on the way to becoming a digitization group.

Squire Patton Boggs has successfully defended the Republic of Kosovo against a EU380 million investment treaty claim brought by a German private investor.  The case was the first ever investment treaty case brought against Kosovo since it became an independent country in 2008. In an award issued on May 3, 2018 the ICSID arbitration tribunal rejected all claims brought against Kosovo and ordered the claimant to pay more than $2 million to Kosovo for fees and costs incurred by Kosovo in defending against the claim.

DLA Piper has advised Gazeley on the leasing of a new logistics building to Schneider Logistik, located in the Schwäbische Alb business park in Geislingen/Steige, Germany.

The company will lease a total of 12,500 square meters of hall and mezzanine space, and will relocate its headquarters to the building following a planned move the end of the year.

BUCHAREST - RTPR Allen & Overy advises Autonom Services on the acquisition of BT Operational Leasing.
RTPR Allen & Overy has advised Autonom Services in relation to the acquisition of BT Operational Leasing, the operational leasing company currently owned by BT group. We expect this acquisition to be the biggest M&A transaction of the year in the Romanian market of operational leasing.