Ashurst and Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) have taken the leading roles on a $1.8bn (£1.1bn) strategic alliance between Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CPG) and Japanese trading house Itochu. A Hong Kong and Tokyo team from MoFo are acting for CPG on the deal, while Ashurst’s Hong Kong office has teamed up with Japanese firm Mori […]
London Stock Exchange-owned clearing house LCH Clearnet has hired Diane Bouwmeester as its group general counsel and head of compliance. Bouwmeester steps into the role from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she has been a senior associate since 2007. She becomes the first person to hold the newly-established general counsel and compliance head position at LCH […]
Marketing heads at London’s top 60 law firms are paid as much as £477,000, according to a survey conducted by marketing recruitment consultancy Carter Murray. The survey, sent to the top 60 firms of The Lawyer UK 200 in 2013, had a 58 per cent response rate – with respondents weighted more heavily towards larger […]
Bircham Dyson Bell has recorded stable turnover but an increase in profitability after a steady 2013/14, with total revenue essentially unchanged at £31.3m. Turnover for the London firm rose marginally from £31.25m the previous year. However net profit, reported on a like-for-like basis, rose to £9.3m from £9.1m in 2012/13. Bircham Dyson Bell restructured its […]
Big days don’t come much bigger than the one Shearman & Sterling enjoyed late last week, when the firm triumphed in its decade-long, $50bn arbitration battle for Yukos shareholders against the Russian state. But there were other numbers that, while not quite as big, are almost as impressive. As we reported in our Behind The […]
Baker & McKenzie is advising on the sale of the City’s landmark Gherkin building months after handling its collapse into receivership earlier in the year. Baker & McKenzie’s global co-head of financial restructuring and insolvency Ian Jack and partner Louise Webb led the deal advising Deloitte, the receivers, as well as the agent for the […]
Intellectual property (IP) lawyers at Shoosmiths have contributed to a number of cases in a new book about landmark European decisions. Landmark IP Decisions of the European Court of Justice 2008–2013 sets out the most celebrated IP cases of the past five years across the European Union. Jo Joyce and Anastasia Fowle, IP and creative […]
The Prudential Insurance Company of America recently completed what is believed to be the largest longevity risk transfer transaction to date, having reinsured longevity risk of the BT Pension Scheme. Ogier Legal advised Prudential in Guernsey. Longevity risk is faced by all providers of defined-benefit pension schemes and has been the subject of a number […]
Shoosmiths has acted for KBC Advanced Technologies in a multi-million-pound acquisition. KBC has purchased FEESA, a UK-based provider of specialised software and services to the upstream oil and gas industry, for a value of £11.2m — a figure that includes one million KBC shares. Application will be made for the shares to be admitted to trading […]
Michael Duck QC of No5 Chambers has defended Alan Marks, 65, of Shottery, who has been given a two-year conditional discharge and disqualified from driving for two years and been ordered to pay £1,200 in costs after being found guilty of dangerous driving. Marks, who is disabled, was driving on Bridge Street, Stratford, and crashed into a […]
Jason Lovell, partner at Eversheds, has commented on news that more fracking licences are being granted, but with protection for national parks. He said: ‘The 14th onshore licensing round was announced by the energy minister, Matthew Hancock, on 28 July 2014 and applications for licences will be accepted up to 28 October 2014. ‘Among the […]
DLA Piper has advised the Australian government’s Department of Defence on the completion of a AUD264m (£146m) contract for hardware and software services with IBM. DLA Piper partner Caroline Atkins, senior associate Chris Headon and solicitor Daniella Gennari have been working with the department on its major information technology vendor programme for a number of […]