Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, today announced that it has opened an office in Chicago, the firm’s 20th location in the United States. The office opens with a team of eight lawyers who complement the firm’s core strengths and expand the firm’s national capabilities in commercial litigation and IP litigation. More >>

Shearman & Sterling represented Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse (USA) LLC and J.P. Morgan LLC, as joint bookrunning managers, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Fifth Third Securities, Inc., U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland, TD Securities (USA) LLC and The Williams Capital Group, L.P. in connection with the private placement, pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S, of $1.05 billion aggregate principal amount of its 4.375% Senior Notes due 2019 and $750 million aggregate principal amount of its 4.875% Senior Notes due 2021. Forest Laboratories used the net proceeds from the notes offering, together with cash on hand, to fund the acquisition of Aptalis Holdings, Inc.

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A team of capital markets lawyers from the DLA Piper’s London and Bucharest offices has advised the government of Romania, acting through the Ministry of Public Finances, on the ground-breaking issuance of €2 billion notes under its €15 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme. More >>

Fasken Martineau, a leading international business law and litigation firm, was lead project finance counsel to Nalcor Energy for the financing of the $5 billion Muskrat Falls Hydroelectric Generating Facility and the Labrador-Island Transmission Link projects. More >>

Latham & Watkins advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as initial purchasers in a global offering of US$1.4 billion of 6⅞% Senior Secured Notes due 2024 by VTR Finance, the parent of VTR GlobalCom and VTR Wireless.

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Leading global law firm Mayer Brown has advised a joint venture involving four shipping companies in the US$425 million refinancing of four liquefied natural gas vessels. The 12-year loan from a consortium of international banks will be used to refinance existing debt facilities on four liquefied natural gas vessels. More >>

Shearman & Sterling represented Banco de Chile and LQ Inversiones Financieras S.A. in connection with an $829,000,000 global secondary public offering of 6,700,000,000 common shares of Banco de Chile. The shares were sold by LQ Inversiones Financieras S.A. through a book auction on the Santiago Stock Exchange. The shares were sold in Chile through Chilean placement agents and sold outside of Chile through international underwriters in the form of American Depositary Shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The international underwriters were led by Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

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Simpson Thacher represented Initial Purchasers, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd. Hong Kong Branch, in connection with a 144A and Regulation S offering of US$150 million 11.75% Guaranteed Senior Notes due 2019 by Favor Sea Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of China XD Plastic Company Limited (“China XD”).  The Notes are unconditionally guaranteed China XD on a senior basis and were rated ‘‘BB–’’ by Fitch Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.  The Notes are listed and quoted on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

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A team of McGuireWoods lawyers, led by Charlotte partners Harrison Marshall, Chris Scheurer and Rick Viola, represented Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. (formerly NYSE: HTSI) in connection with its merger with a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). Under the terms of the merger agreement, Harris Teeter shareholders will receive $49.38 per share of Harris Teeter common stock. The all-cash transaction, which closed on Jan. 28, 2014, is valued at approximately $2.5 billion. More >>

A Weil team is representing Lenovo in its definitive agreement with Google to acquire the Motorola Mobility smartphone business. With a leading PC business and a fast-growing smartphone business, this agreement will significantly strengthen Lenovo’s position in the smartphone market. In addition, Lenovo will gain a robust market presence in North America and Latin America, as well as a foothold in Western Europe, to complement its strong, fast-growing smartphone business in emerging markets around the world. More >>