Kirkland & Ellis LLP represents Blackstone (BX) and Vine Oil & Gas LP, a recently formed exploration and production company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the Haynesville assets of SWEPI LP and Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc., affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell plc, for $1.2 billion. The assets comprise over 107,000 net acres in North Louisiana in the core of the Haynesville Shale natural gas shale basin. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.

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Milbank represented Credit Suisse, Barclays, BNP Paribas, ING, Natixis and Nomura as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the first and second lien senior secured credit facilities in connection with the €1.2 billion acquisition by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice of the Mauser Group, a worldwide leading company in industrial packaging headquartered in Germany.

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Ropes & Gray LLP advised Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Nordea in connection with the €1.45 billion financing of Nordic Capital’s acquisition of a majority stake in Norway-based Lindorff, one of Europe’s leading providers of debt-related administrative services.

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Simpson Thacher represented the initial purchasers, led by sole book-running manager, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, in the sale of an aggregate principal amount of $300 million 4.875% Senior Notes due 2024 by Fairfax (US) Inc. (“Fairfax US”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (“Fairfax”). The notes are fully, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Fairfax. Fairfax US intends to use the net proceeds of the offering primarily to refinance approximately $300 million principal amount of certain notes and trust preferred securities issued by subsidiaries of Fairfax.
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DLA Piper has advised long term client Linc Energy Ltd. (“Company”) on the successful offering of US$125 million 9.625% due-2017 first-lien senior secured Notes. The notes were issued by the Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries Linc USA GP and Linc Energy Finance (USA) (“Issuers”), through which the company is engaged in the production, development, exploitation and acquisition of crude oil and gas producing properties in the United States.

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A cross-border team from global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised China’s largest privately owned corporation, Fosun International Limited (Fosun), on the $489 million takeover of ASX listed ROC Oil Company Limited (ROC).

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The Firm is representing funds advised by Apax Partners in connection with the announced acquisition of Answers Corporation (Answers), the parent company of Answers.com, from Summit Partners, TA Associates and founder shareholders.  The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014 and is subject to customary closing conditions.  Financial terms were not disclosed.
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Skadden represented the lead bookrunning managers in the $1.02 billion initial public offering of ordinary shares and listing on the New York Stock Exchange of Mobileye N.V., an Israeli company organized in the Netherlands, in the largest-ever U.S. IPO by an Israeli company.
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Vinson & Elkins advised Riverstone Holdings in an investment by its affiliate in Canadian Non-Operated Resources LP (CNOR), a newly-formed, Calgary-based oil and gas company that will pursue partnerships with top-tier operators to develop oil and gas assets in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The aggregate equity commitments to CNOR are approximately C$675 million, of which affiliates of Riverstone committed C$300 million, with the rest of the equity commitment made by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, CNOR’s management team and other strategic investors.

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