Eversheds has advised intive as its Finnish counsel in the cross-border downstream merger of BLStream Oy and its Polish subsidiary BLStream S.A. As a result of the merger, all assets and liabilities of BLStream Oy were transferred to BLStream S.A. and BLStream Oy was dissolved. The merger was a part of a reorganisation of intive’s legal structure.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Warburg Pincus on a US$370m investment in shares in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (‘Techcombank’) prior to Techcombank’s IPO. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, marks the largest-ever private equity investment in Vietnam.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised Japan Tobacco Inc on its agreement to acquire the Donskoy Tabak group for US$1.6bn.
Donskoy Tabak is the fourth largest tobacco company in Russia. The deal is one of the largest investments in Russia by an international investor in the consumer goods sector since 2014. It is one of a number of acquisitions around the world on which Freshfields has advised Japan Tobacco Inc.
Hogan Lovells advised pSivida Corp. on its acquisition of Icon Bioscience, Inc. as part of its rebranding initiative into EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. pSivida, which officially became EyePoint on 29 March 2018, is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes ophthalmic products. Icon is also a specialty biopharmaceutical company whose flagship drug, DEXYCU™, is administered at the end of ocular surgery to treat postoperative inflammation.
Following November 2017 agreement signed by Swissport to acquire Aerocare, number one ground handling operator in Australia and New Zealand, Hogan Lovells advised Swissport on banking and corporate aspects of the transaction financing and acquisition completion.
Swissport is the world’s largest provider of ground and cargo handling services in the aviation industry. It operates across 315 airports around the world with a work force in excess of 68,000 personnel.
On 28 Mar 2018 (EST.), King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) advised OneSmart Education Group Limited (OneSmart) on its successful listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to the listing, OneSmart completed the restructuring of its red chip structure and offshore private equity financing. This transaction is one of the first projects in the market that involves both the unwinding and rebuilding of the red chip structure. Its successful completion will set an important reference for similar projects in the future.
DLA Piper has advised U Global Holding AB on the sale of Universum to the online job platform StepStone, a company of Axel Springer SE.
The transaction is subject to competition authority approvals. Universum is the global leader in employer branding.
Davis Polk advised the representatives of the underwriters on the SEC-registered initial public offering by iQIYI, Inc. of 125,000,000 American Depositary Shares, each representing seven Class A ordinary shares, for total proceeds of $2.25 billion. iQIYI has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 18,750,000 ADSs. The ADSs are listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “IQ.”
Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised a syndicate of 14 international financiers on the AUD$862 million refinancing of the Worsley Co-Generation Power Station in Western Australia.
Simpson Thacher is representing Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”) in its proposed acquisition of a 45% equity stake in Telenor Microfinance Bank Limited (“TMB”) for US$184.5 million. Currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Telenor ASA, a Norwegian-listed company which operates telecommunications and other businesses internationally, TMB offers the largest branchless banking service in Pakistan, in terms of agent network, active accounts and transaction value, under the “Easypaisa” brand.