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International Edition

European legal team of the year

The judges were struck by the complexity of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's work advising BNP Paribas on its acquisition of Fortis's Belgian operations. There is a very good case for dubbing the transaction the most politically-charged of all the credit crunch-related deals. The Belgian Government's decision to sell the debt-laden bank's Belgian assets to BNP Paribas caused such a political storm that it brought down the Government. The resulting shareholder litigation almost sank the deal. It was the first case of a bank being rescued by the state and then being sold onto the private sector. The team was spearheaded by Paris-based partner Pierre-Yves Chabert and Brussels partner Jan Meyers.
2 minute read

International Edition

Managing/senior partner of the year

In its entry for this category, Weil Gotshal & Manges states confidently that the "Mike Francies Show label has now finally disappeared". As one of the City's best known M&A lawyers, Francies was for some years dogged with accusations that colleagues at the US firm's London office struggled to emerge from his shadow.
2 minute read

International Edition

Full service

Howard Kennedy's Dov Katz on combining life as a corporate partner with an international table tennis career... I recently returned from the Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics, winning bronze for Great Britain in the men's table tennis team event. The Games are held every four years and are the third largest sporting event in the world with more than 10,000 competitors from 60 countries competing in more than 30 sports.
3 minute read

International Edition

CMS Moscow partner quits to join Magisters

CMS Moscow has lost a top-rated partner with Kirill Ratnikov moving to CIS heavyweight Magisters today (3 December). Ratnikov, who focuses on public-private partnerships (PPP) and corporate law, led the Moscow infrastructure and project finance group at CMS Moscow, having joined CMS Cameron McKenna's Moscow office in 2004 from Coudert Brothers. He began his career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters and Addleshaws head up building society merger deal

Linklaters and Addleshaw Goddard have taken the lead roles on the proposed merger of Yorkshire and Chelsea building societies. Linklaters advised Yorkshire, with City corporate partner Stephen Blackshaw leading on corporate aspects while capital markets partner Richard Levy led on the capital exchange.
2 minute read

International Edition

Private equity will unlock the African market's potential

Along with many other emerging markets, many African countries, on the back of increased political stability and the recent commodities boom, have experienced tremendous growth over the last decade. And while Africa has by no means escaped the global economic downturn, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has still predicted growth at 2.8% for 2009, albeit against an original expectation of 5.7%.
4 minute read

International Edition

SJ Berwin corporate partner quits for Germany spin-off firm

SJ Berwin is set to lose a partner in Germany as corporate specialist Joerg Windt leaves the firm to join spin-off firm RoosLegal. RoosLegal was set up earlier this year by SJ Berwin's Frankfurt corporate head Michael Roos, who left the firm in May. On his arrival in January, Windt will become the corporate boutique's third partner alongside tax specialist Sven Grundmann. No associates will follow him to the new firm.
2 minute read

International Edition

Herbert Smith alliance firm makes up six to partnership

Herbert Smith's German ally Gleiss Lutz has announced a new round of promotions, with six new partners set to be made up at the beginning of next year (1 January). The firm's corporate and M&A department will see the majority of the promotions, with three new partners appointed. The other three new partners come in the banking and finance, antitrust and tax departments respectively.
2 minute read

International Edition

Dechert leads on $190m rights sale of experimental pain drug

Dechert's London office has won a role advising new client PanGenetics on its $190m (£114m) sale of global rights for an experimental drug to US pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories. The US firm has been drafted in to advise antibody engineering company PanGenetics on the sale of a drug used for chronic pain called PG110. The sale will see Abbott acquire the rights to the drug for an upfront payment of $170m (£102m), with additional milestone payments taking the figure to $190m (£114m). The deal equates to selling off part of the company that will house the drug for Abbott.
1 minute read

International Edition

Ashurst names first Middle East chief in regional overhaul

Ashurst has overhauled its Middle East management structure, appointing a regional managing partner for the first time. Nick Williamson will become Middle East managing partner from the beginning of 2010. Williamson, who relocated to Abu Dhabi from London in early September to boost the firm's corporate offering in the region, will take overall responsibility for tightening up client relations in the region, with local heads in Abu Dhabi and Dubai reporting into him.
1 minute read

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