Denton Wilde Sapte has taken a role alongside a trio of magic circle firms advising on the UK Government's $1bn (£524m) bond issue to finance child immunisation in developing countries.

Dentons banking partner James Curtis gave pro bono advice to the Government on the establishment of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) bond programme, which raised about $1bn from investors.

Slaughter and May advised the IFFIm, with the bond launched last week (7 November) by Chancellor Gordon Brown and rock starscum-activists Bob Geldof and Bono.

The IFFIm will use the money for immunisation programmes in developing countries with the backing of non-governmental vaccination organisation the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).

Linklaters securitisation partner Jim Rice advised the GAVI Fund, while Richards Butler advised an affiliate company to the GAVI Fund.

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, both advised by Allen & Overy debt capital markets partners Matthew Hartley and Adam Kupitz, worked on the bond structure with the UK Treasury, which came up with the idea.

Work started on the programme in 2002, and it aims to raise $4bn (£2.1bn) over the next 10 years.

The UK is committed to paying a total of £1.38bn into the fund over the next 20 years, while France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Brazil and South Africa will also each put in a share. The bond will allow immunisation schemes to be carried out with investors' money, which will be repaid in the future under government aid programmes.

The World Health Organisation estimates that the IFFIm programme could fund the immunisation of more than 500 million people against diseases such as polio and diphtheria.

Legalweek.com (8 November).