NEXT

International Edition

US firms in driving seat on upcoming General Motors listing

Jenner & Block and Davis Polk & Wardwell have secured lead roles on General Motors' highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), reports The Am Law Daily. The car manufacturing giant filed for the IPO yesterday (18 August), just over a year after the company emerged from bankruptcy. Jenner corporate partners Joseph Gromacki, William Tolbert and Brian Boch are lead issuer's counsel for the IPO. Gromacki chairs Jenner's corporate practice and serves as co-chair of the firm's securities practice.
2 minute read

International Edition

Mayer Brown adds partner duo to Asia offices

Mayer Brown JSM has bulked up its Beijing and Hong Kong offices with the hire of two partners from Winston & Strawn and Sidley Austin. Xiang Yang Ge joined Mayer Brown last month to head up the Beijing projects practice from Winston & Strawn's local office, where he was also office head. Prior to joining Winston & Strawn in 2009 he had spent 18 years at Baker & McKenzie.
2 minute read

International Edition

Freshfields Beijing managing partner joins Davis Polk for HK law launch

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Beijing managing partner is leaving the firm to launch a Hong Kong law practice for Davis Polk & Wardwell, reports The Am Law Daily. Antony Dapiran (pictured), a capital markets lawyer at Freshfields, has taken roles on several high-profile transactions for Chinese state-owned enterprises, including working side-by-side with Davis Polk representing Agricultural Bank of China on its dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which this week became the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) ever with over $22bn (£14bn) raised.
3 minute read

International Edition

Sullivan makes Skype connection with lead role on $100m IPO

Sullivan & Cromwell has secured the lead role to advise Skype on its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), as the online communications company prepares to issue US shares worth about $100m (£63m), reports The Am Law Daily. The US firm already has a relationship with Skype after London-based partner Richard Morrissey, the head of the firm's European M&A group, advised the consortium of investors that acquired a controlling stake in the company from eBay for about $2bn (£1.3bn) in September.
2 minute read

International Edition

A&O recruits long-serving Bingham partner for US capital markets team

Allen & Overy (A&O) has bolstered its US capital markets practice with the hire of a top-rated securitisation partner from Bingham McCutchen. Ed de Sear has joined the firm's New York international capital markets practice in a lateral move from Boston-based Bingham.
2 minute read

International Edition

Letter from Asia: Should US firms build local practices in Hong Kong?

The Agricultural Bank of China's initial public offering (IPO), expected to become the world's largest, debuted this week, landing squarely in the middle of a debate over whether leading Wall Street law firms should build local practice capability in Hong Kong. The IPO on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges would seem an obvious rallying cry for those arguing that top US capital markets firms will miss out on deals without their own Hong Kong lawyers - except that the lead lawyers on the AgBank deal are from New York's Davis Polk & Wardwell, which only practises US law.
3 minute read

International Edition

Basel III - ill-advised sequel or sound banking rules?

Amid the swathe of proposed rules and regulations that are likely to apply to banks, financial institutions, rating agencies and others in the wake of the financial crisis, there are a significant number of new rules relating to capital adequacy treatment for securitisation transactions. Although widely dubbed Basel III, the proposed rules do not really constitute a new regime so much as a series of amendments to the existing Basel II framework. Like a bad Hollywood sequel, the danger is that Basel III will be longer, more involved and less thought through than the original (and probably worse received by its target audience).
4 minute read

International Edition

Slaughters and A&O check out for Ocado IPO

Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken a lead role as online grocer Ocado looks to go public. Slaughters is taking the lead for the retailer, which is offering employees and all customers who have spent more than £300 with Ocado since the beginning of the year the chance to invest, in addition to institutional investors.
2 minute read

International Edition

Magic circle duo elect new German management

Clifford Chance (CC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have elected new management for their German practices. Freshfields has named its global employment, pensions and benefits head Klaus-Stefan Hohenstatt as the new managing partner for Germany, Austria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with the appointment effective 1 September.
2 minute read

International Edition

Norton Rose & Weil land $1.3bn Polish IPO

Norton Rose has lined up on one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) this year as Polish power utility company Tauron Polska Energia goes public in a $1.3bn (£867m) listing.
2 minute read

Resources

  • International Export and Trade Assistance State Law Survey

    Brought to you by LexisNexis®

    Download Now

  • How This Personal Injury Firm Reduced Client Intake Time by 80%

    Brought to you by PracticePanther

    Download Now

  • The Hidden Cost of Bad Reviews: Why Law Firms & Attorneys Can't Afford a Damaged Online Reputation

    Brought to you by Erase.com

    Download Now

  • Leveraging Technology to Improve Employee Engagement and Client Satisfaction

    Brought to you by CARET Legal

    Download Now