McGuireWoods LLP announced today the addition of four partners to its debt finance practice group in Charlotte. Attorneys Eric Burk, Jim Hedrick, David Lapp and Kent Walker, from the Charlotte office of Winston & Strawn LLP, will expand McGuireWoods’ debt capital markets depth and capabilities by continuing their representation of clients in a variety of syndicated finance and corporate lending matters.

Allen & Overy today announces the launch of an office in Casablanca with the addition of leading Moroccan lawyers Hicham Naciri and Yassir Ghorbal, becoming the first major global law firm to establish a presence on the African continent.

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP today announced that it successfully represented Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation’s leading media and marketing services companies, in connection with the refinancing of its senior secured credit facility.  Valassis obtained a $400 million senior secured credit facility arranged by J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland. The facilities consist of a $300 million Term Loan A and a $100 million revolving line of credit.

Linklaters has advised on the first two offshore transmission projects in the UK market to reach financial close to date, reinforcing the firm’s excellent reputation in the renewables and transmission sectors.

Shearman & Sterling has advised the lenders: Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), CA CIB, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Natixis on the financing for the Muharraq wastewater project in Bahrain, sponsored by Samsung, Invest AD and United Utilities. The financing was signed on 19 July in London.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that Kamran S. Bajwa has rejoined the Firm as a partner in its Chicago office to help launch the Firm’s Middle East Practice Group.

Four white-collar litigators, including partners William M. Sullivan, Jr. and G. Derek Andreson and two associates, have joined Pillsbury’s Washington, DC office. The team, which comes from Winston & Strawn, adds significant depth to Pillsbury’s Corporate Investigations & White Collar Defense group on the East Coast. Sullivan will join current New York partner Mark Hellerer as co-head of the Firm’s 25-member White-Collar practice group.

Global law firm White & Case LLP represented Crédit Agricole, France’s state-owned retail bank, in a US$1 billion financing for PMI Trading Limited and PMI. Holdings BV, both subsidiaries of Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), Mexico’s largest hydrocarbon and petrochemical producer.

Davis Polk advised Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. on its cash tender offers for an aggregate of $600 million outstanding principal amount of its 5.375% notes due 2014 and 5.75% notes due 2015. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as dealer managers for the tender offers. Davis Polk also advised Marsh & McLennan Companies in connection with a concurrent SEC-registered offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.8% senior notes due 2021. The proceeds from the senior notes offering were used to partially fund the tender offers. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as joint book-running managers for the senior notes offering.