The four-partner securitisation team lured from Norton Rose last year has closed its first transaction at Baker & McKenzie.

Partner Simon Porter led a te am advising specialist financial services company the Emerging Markets Group (EMG) on its role as lead manager on an $18m (£10m) foreign currency convertible bond issued by Indian gearbox manufacturer Elecon Engineering Company.

He told Legal Week: "We were instructed on Elecon before we left Norton Rose but we carried it over. I think if EMG has more of these transactions they would be likely to instruct us. This deal is important because it is the first deal we [the four-partner team] have completed [at Bakers]."

The deal is the third Indian convertible bond issue Porter has advised EMG on in the past year.

The four-partner team, led by Jonathan Walsh, joined Baker & McKenzie at the beginning of De cember after six mo nths of exit discussions with No rton Rose, which wanted to hold the team to a 12-month notice period. At No rton Rose the group acted for clients including Nestle, BMW, PD Ports and Drax.

Switzerland-based EMG, which focuses on the emerging markets, acted as international lead manager on the deal with State Bank of India as co-arranger. Sidley Austin acted as legal adviser to trustees the Bank of New York with Hong Kong consultant Arun Nigam advising. Elecon did not use UK counsel, instead using Indian firm Gagrats.