Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Woodside Petroleum Ltd on the exit by Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, comprising:

• a selective buy-back of 78.3 million Woodside shares owned by Shell for total consideration of A$2.9 billion. The consideration is based on a price per share of A$36.49, representing a 14% discount to the volume weighted average price of Woodside shares over the five trading days before the announcement of the transaction, and

• an underwritten sell-down by Shell of a further 78.3 million shares at A$41.35 per share, for total consideration of A$3.2 billion.

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Mayer Brown JSM advised Hong Kong Huafa Investment Holdings Company Limited on its issue of RMB 850 million 4.25 percent. credit enhanced bonds due 2017 backed by a standby letter of credit issued by Agricultural Bank of China. The deal was jointly lead managed by ABC International, the Hong Kong and Singapore branches of Agricultural Bank of China and OCBC. The Issuer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhuhai Huafa Group Co., Ltd., a PRC state-owned conglomerate involved in urban operations, financial services, property development, sales and trading, modern services, education, media and tourism. The bonds were assigned an A1 rating by Moody’s Investors Service.
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In a noteworthy deal aligning two prominent asset managers, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is representing leading UK-based hedge fund Man Group PLC in its announced acquisition of Numeric Holdings LLC, an investment manager based in Boston.

Under their joint agreement, Man will pay $219 million in cash, with up to $275 million payable to Numeric management and employees following after a five-year period. The deal is expected to close in September.

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Founded in 1991, FDM is a UK-based international professional services provider focusing principally on IT, specialising in the recruitment, training and deployment of its own permanent IT consultants across six core service areas: Development; Testing; Project Management Office; Data Analysis; Application Support; and Infrastructure.

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Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) today completed the previously announced sale of KTVK-TV and KASW-TV in Phoenix, AZ, to Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP). Gannett and Sander Media LLC conveyed assets to Meredith acquired following the December 2013 Gannett-Belo transaction. This completes the sale of stations to Meredith that was previously announced in December of 2013. The total sale price of the combined stations (those in Phoenix and KMOV-TV in St. Louis) was $407.5 million in cash.

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Goodwin Procter recently advised TA Associates on the announced sale of Numeric Holdings to Man Group. According to the terms of the agreement, Man will pay $219 million in cash at completion, and up to $275 million more payable to various Numeric management and employees at the five year anniversary of the completion of the transaction.

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Cooley LLP announced today that it is advising ProteinSimple on its sale to Techne Corporation (d/b/a Bio-Techne) for $300 million. ProteinSimple develops and commercializes proprietary systems and consumables for protein analysis that ultimately help reveal new insights into the true nature of proteins. Techne Corporation is a global life sciences company providing innovative bioactive tools and resources for the research and clinical diagnostic communities.

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Shearman & Sterling represented Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited and Barclays Bank PLC, as initial purchasers and joint bookrunners, in connection with the offering of £175 million 7.50% senior secured notes due 2021 issued by Bibby Offshore Services Plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bibby Offshore Holdings Limited (“Bibby”). The net proceeds from the issue and sale of the Notes will be used to refinance existing debt obligations of Bibby and its subsidiaries, to pay a dividend, to pay fees and expenses and for general corporate purposes. The Senior Secured Notes will be guaranteed on a senior basis by certain subsidiaries of Bibby Offshore Holdings Limited. The offering, which was conducted pursuant to Regulation S and Rule 144A under the US Securities Act, closed on June 19, 2014. Additionally, Shearman & Sterling’s lawyers advised Barclays Bank PLC as agent in connection with Bibby’s entry into a new £20 million revolving credit facility agreement.

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