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.

The international law firm Clifford Chance advised Yeni Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. on the closing of a limited-recourse US$700 million loan facility and US$80 million letter of guarantee facility to finance the development and construction of an 865 megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power plant to be established at Gebze, 60 km outside of Istanbul, Turkey, as well as the negotiation of the construction and maintenance agreements for the plant.  The project is the first true limited-recourse financing of a gas-fired combined cycle power plant in the Turkish merchant power market.

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan , the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada with over C$100 billion in assets, on its acquisition of MAp’s interests in Brussels and Copenhagen airports in return for a sale by Teachers’ to MAp of its interests in Sydney airport and a balancing payment of approximately A$790 million.

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.