Shearman & Sterling represented Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, Goldman Sachs International, and Morgan Stanley & Co. International & plc as initial purchasers in Edcon (Proprietary) Limited’s €317 million and US$250 million high yield bond offering. The proceeds of the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including the refinancing of certain hedging obligations and existing indebtedness of Edcon. The firm also represented Absa Capital, a division of Absa Bank Limited, as facility agent in connection with Edcon’s senior revolving credit facility. Shearman & Sterling had also advised the arrangers and initial purchasers of the ZAR 26 billion acquisition financing for the acquisition of Edcon in 2007.

Taylor Wessing and Olswang have successfully completed the £215 million refinancing of the prime mid-town office building, Mid City Place, High Holborn. 

Stephenson Harwood’s Shipbuilding Group has advised one of the world’s largest shipbuilders on the negotiation of contracts for a project described by Lloyds List as the “World’s Biggest Ever Ship Order”. 

The Paris office has advised OMV on the US$866 million acquisition of the Tunisian oil exploration and production subsidiaries of Pioneer Natural Resources, an independent US oil and gas company. The transaction was signed on 6 January 2011 and closed on 18 February.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP was counsel to Centro Retail, Australia’s largest manager of retail property investment syndicates, in negotiations to sell its portfolio of 588 U.S. shopping centers and its U.S. Service Business to BRE Retail Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI, L.P. The sale is expected to close in mid-2011 and is part of Centro’s proposed restructuring of its capital structure. Blackstone will acquire the Centro’s U.S. business for an enterprise value of approximately $9.4 billion, with total equity proceeds for Centro, Centro Retail Trust, and its other managed funds totaling $1.38 billion. Centro’s proposed restructuring will result in a new entity with a leading Australian portfolio of retail centers.

Watson, Farley & Williams, a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that it has advised Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (“NORD/LB”) on the acquisition financing of one of two sections of Finsterwalde, one of Germany’s largest solar parks (42 MWp), located in Brandenburg.

In deals totaling $940 million in cash, WilmerHale represented Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in the sale of two of its businesses. Thermo Fisher has entered into definitive agreements to sell Athena Diagnostics to Quest Diagnostics for $740 million and to sell Lancaster Laboratories to Eurofins Scientific SE for $200 million, subject to a post-closing adjustment. Thermo Fisher expects to close these transactions in the second quarter of 2011.

Ashurst advised an international dealer group led by WestLB AG as arranger in connection with the establishment of the €20bn debt issuance programme (DIP) by Erste Abwicklungsanstalt, Dusseldorf (EAA).