Allen & Gledhill has advised OCBC, DBS Bank and Credit Suisse on GLL IHT’s issue of S$285 million (US$203.6m) 4 percent notes due 2022, comprised in Series 020 under its S$3 billion (US$2.14b) multicurrency medium term note programme, guaranteed by Guocoland. The notes were issued in three tranches. OCBC, DBS and Credit Suisse were appointed dealers for Tranche 1, OCBC for Tranche 2 and DBS for Tranche 3. Partners Margaret Chin, Ong Kangxin and Sunit Chhabra led the transaction.
Allen & Gledhill has also advised Pakuwon Jati, through its wholly-owned Singapore-incorporated subsidiary Pakuwon Prima, on the issue of US$250 million 5 percent senior unsecured notes due 2024. Partner Glenn Foo led the transaction.
AZB & Partners has acted as Indian counsel to Housing Development Finance on its establishment of a Rs50 billion (US$749.7m) medium term note programme. Partner Varoon Chandra led the transaction, which was completed on February 14, 2017.
AZB & Partners has also advised Fairfax India Holdings on its Rs5 billion (US$75m) acquisition from IDFC Bank of minority equity shares of IIFL Holdings in an off-market transaction. Partners Ashwin Ramanathan and Bhavi Sanghvi led the transaction, which was completed on February 8, 2017.
Baker McKenzie has acted for Foresight Group, a leading independent infrastructure and private equity manager, on facilitating the acquisition from the Elecnor group of the 25 MW Barcaldine Remote Community Solar Farm (BRCSF) in Queensland. BRCSF is the first solar project to be managed by Foresight in Australia. Financing for the acquisition was provided by Kiamco Global Infrastructure Fund III and Hanwha Energy. Currently Queensland’s largest solar farm, BRCSF is expected to provide approximately 10 percent of Australia’s current large-scale solar electricity. Partner Simon De Young, supported by partners Paul Curnow, John Walker and Dan Middleton, led the transaction.
Baker McKenzie has also acted for Insight Capital Advisers and Wilsons Corporate Finance, as the joint lead managers and capital markets adviser, on Ruralco’s pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer and institutional placement. Ruralco is seeking to raise approximately US$65 million under the equity raising to fund a portfolio of acquisitions and provide enhanced balance sheet flexibility. Ruralco assists businesses to achieve their goals through providing expertise in merchandise, fertiliser, wool, livestock, real estate, rural property, integrated water solutions, soft commodity risk management, grain, finance and insurance. Head of equity capital markets partner Craig Andrade led the transaction.
J Sagar Associates has acted as Indian counsel to the Lonza Group on its agreement, entered into in December 2016, to acquire Capsugel from KKR for US$5.5 billion in cash, including refinancing of approximately US$2 billion existing Capsugel debt. The transaction will be financed with a combination of debt and equity financing and is subject to regulatory and other closing conditions. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Lonza is a leading supplier to the pharmaceutical, biotech and specialty ingredients markets, with more than 40 major manufacturing and R&D facilities and 9,800 full-time employees worldwide. The company generated sales of CHF4.1 billion (US$4b) in 2016. Capsugel designs, develops and manufactures a wide range of innovative dosage forms for the biopharmaceutical and consumer health and nutrition industries. Partners Sidharrth Shankar and Reeti Chaudhary led the transaction while Jenner & Block acted as transaction counsel.
Khaitan & Co has advised Dun & Bradstreet on the Indian leg of the 100 percent global acquisition of Avention, including its Indian entity for US$150 million. Originating in the US, New York-listed Dun & Bradstreet offers a wide range of solutions in risk and finance, operations and supply chain, sales and marketing, economy analysis and professional growth. Associate partner Anshul Prakash led the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has also advised Hindustan Motors on the sale of its Ambassador brand to Peugeot Citroen Automobiles France for Rs800 million (US$12m). A CK Birla Group company, Hindustan Motors manufactures automobiles in the passenger car and light commercial vehicle segments in India. Partners Haigreve Khaitan and Bharat Anand, supported by partners Arvind Jhunjhunwala, Ashwin Bishnoi and Diwakar Maheshwari, led the transaction.
Luthra & Luthra has advised Nasdaq-listed IHS Markit on its multi-jurisdictional sale of the operational excellence and risk management (OERM) business to Genstar Capital, a leading middle market private equity firm focused on investments in targeted segments of the software, industrial technology, financial services and healthcare industries. The OERM business operates globally, serving over 2,500 customers and hundreds of thousands of individual users, primarily in highly regulated industries such as oil and gas, chemicals, and manufacturing. Pursuant to the transaction, the OERM business has been re-branded by the acquirer as “Sphera Solutions”. The transaction was part of IHS’s plan to sells its environmental, health, safety, and sustainability processes software solutions business, which was housed under the OERM business and was considered no longer aligned with IHS’s strategic goals. Partners Vikrant Kumar and Vasudev Dibbur led the transaction.
Luthra & Luthra has also acted as Indian counsel to Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and ICICI Securities as the brokers on a block trade of equity shares of ITC by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India. Partner Manan Lahoty led the transaction, which was valued at approximately US$1 billion and was completed on February 7, 2017.
Skadden has advised China Yuhua Education on its HK$1.54 billion (US$198.4m) IPO in Hong Kong. Trade in the shares commenced on February 28, 2017. Partners Christopher Betts and Will Cai led the transaction, which is the largest IPO launched and completed so far this year.
Sullivan & Cromwell is representing CIM Group (US) on its strategic partnership with Mitsui (Japan) and on Mitsui’s 20 percent investment in CIM, where proceeds will be used entirely to fund CIM’s continued growth. Partners Patrick Brown (corporate-Los Angeles) and Andrew Mason (tax-New York) are leading the transaction, which was announced on February 17, 2017.
Sullivan & Cromwell (Hong Kong) is also representing Goldman Sachs (US), Daesung Group (Korea), Atinum Partners (Korea) and Blue Run, as shareholders on Daesung Industrial Gases, on their agreement with MBK Partners (Korea) to sell their entire outstanding share capital of Daesung Industrial Gases for a cash consideration of US$1 billion. Partners Michael DeSombre (corporate-Hong Kong), Jamieson Logie (financing-Hong Kong), Ronald Creamer Jr (tax-New York) and Nader Mousavi (intellectual property-Palo Alto) are leading the transaction, which was announced on February 24, 2017.
Weil is representing Oaktree Capital on the business combination of its portfolio company Fitness First Asia and Celebrity Fitness, a portfolio company of Navis Capital Partners. The transaction will create one of the largest fitness club networks in Asia. The combined entity, Evolution Wellness Holdings, will comprise 152 wholly-owned fitness clubs across Asia, serving approximately 400,000 members and with a combined staff approaching 7,000. Asia corporate partner Tim Gardner is leading the transaction.
WongPartnership has acted for Tembusu Growth Fund II on the sale of its 36 percent stake in Ednovation to CDH Investments. Partners Teo Hsiao-Huey, Khoo Yuh Huey and Tan Li Wen led the transaction.
WongPartnership has also acted for the Judicial Managers of Technics Oil & Gas and its main operating subsidiary Technics Offshore Engineering on the sale of its stake in Technics Steel to TTJ Holdings. Partners Manoj Pillay Sandrasegara, Ong Sin Wei, Smitha Menon and Lawrence Foo led the transaction.