International law firm Withers has advised the high-profile Mayor of Venice, Italy, Luigi Brugnaro, on the voluntary and innovative creation of what is believed to be the first blind trust-style structure to be established by an Italian politician. Ivan Sacks, Partner and Chairman of the firm, will also act as Trustee for the Brugnaro Blind Trust, which is being established under New York law.

PJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine was successful in securing a revision of the contract price effective from the second quarter of 2014 and the set-aside of take-or-pay claims in arbitration against Gazprom. This is one of the biggest commercial arbitrations ever.

National law firm Shoosmiths has advised on the management buy-out (MBO) of The Quarr Group, a leading provider of building maintenance and construction, contract cleaning and contract catering.

The Quarr Group has been acquired by its management team, who included Brian Warren, Nelson Williams and Simon Ingram; the Managing Directors of the Quarr Group's subsidiaries: Nviro, Pabulum and Mountjoy, respectively.

Ashurst advised PT Trans Media Corpora as borrower in connection with a financing transaction. PT Trans Media Corpora owns leading television, cable and online networks including Trans TV, Trans 7, Trans Vision, Detik and CNN Indonesia.  The Borrower is a part of the PT CT Corpora group.

PT CT Corpora ("CT Corp") is a rapidly growing, diversified Indonesian-based corporate group which is active in financial services, media, lifestyle, entertainment and natural resources and has strongly-positioned companies across various sectors and markets in Indonesia.

Clifford Chance advised Tele2 on its agreement with Deutsche Telekom to combine Tele2 Netherlands and T-Mobile Netherlands. Tele2 will hold a 25% share in the combined company and receive a cash payment of EUR 190 million upon closing. Based on current numbers, the company will have around 5 million mobile pre- and post-paid customers, combined revenues of around EUR 2 billion. The establishment of the combined company is subject to regulatory approval by the relevant competition authorities. The transaction is therefore expected to close in the second half of 2018.

Global law firm Dentons has advised investment management firms CR Holding GmbH and Värde Partners on the successful sale of six retail parks to Cologne-based REWE Group. The retail parks are part of the Saturn-Portfolio and are located in the western and southern part of Germany. Through this transaction, leading German food retailer REWE Group plans to increase its rate of store ownership.

Global law firm Dentons advised funds managed by Cross Equity Partners on the acquisition of all shares of WDM Wolfshagener Draht- und Metallverarbeitung sold by DG Drahtgitter Holding. Through this transaction a holding company will be formed, in which WDM’s management will co-invest. The parties agreed to keep the purchase price confidential.

Squire Patton Boggs’ Intellectual Property & Technology Practice secured another major victory for its client Process Components Limited (PCL) in the Court of Appeal on 14 December 2017.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW“) advised Liacon GmbH (“Liacon”), a German company developing and producing high performance energy storage systems, on a €3m convertible bond issued in order to raise financing for their future development.

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) advised Comsys Financial Leasing (Comsys) on its acquisition and finance leasing of an A380 aircraft to Mauritius-based operating lessor, Veling Group (Veling), with a 12 year operating lease attached to Emirates. Comsys financed its acquisition of the aircraft with a secured loan from a PRC policy bank.

The KWM team was lead drafting counsel on the finance leasing transaction as well as on the secured loan transaction.