The merger announced today, will see Yorkshire Building Society, the UK’s second largest building society with assets exceeding £30bn join forces with N&P, the UK’s ninth largest society with assets of £3.7bn. The proposed merger will create an enlarged Society with three million members and 224 branches and is expected to complete on 1 November 2011.

Davis Polk advised two DLJ South American Partners investment funds in connection with the sale of a total of 16,561,498 Class A shares of Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc., for approximately US$281 million, in an SEC-registered initial public offering. The selling shareholders also included Capital International Private Equity Fund V, L.P. and Gavea Investment AD, L.P.

Baker & McKenzie recently advised eBay, the world’s leading e-commerce company and the world’s largest online marketplace, on its acquisition of an approximately 20 percent stake in PeaceSoft, a Vietnamese e-commerce company.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised Sumitomo Corporation of America (SCOA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Corporation, in its approximately $200 million investment in Caithness Shepherds Flat, LLC, announced today. Caithness Shepherds Flat is the owner of the 845 megawatt Shepherds Flat wind project, which when completed in 2012 will be the largest wind project in the world.

Law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has advised long-standing client Balfour Beatty on the disposal of its UK  rail manufacturing business to Progress Rail Services UK Limited, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. The deal is due to complete in early May 2011.

Davis Polk advised Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. in connection with its SEC-registered initial public offering of 84,506,788 Class A shares for an aggregate price to the public of approximately US$1.4 billion. Arcos Dorados sold 9,529,412 Class A shares and certain selling shareholders sold 74,977,376 Class A shares, including 11,022,624 Class A shares sold to the underwriters pursuant to an over-allotment option. BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Itau BBA and Citi acted as joint bookrunners for the offering. Arcos Dorados’ Class A shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ARCO.” 

The Firm represented PPL Corporation (“PPL”) in its concurrent offerings of an aggregate of $3.3 billion consisting of 92 million shares of common stock and 19.55 million equity units, each including the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

Allens Arthur Robinson (Allens) has acted on the establishment of AusChina Energy Group, a renewable energy joint venture between two of China’s largest State-owned renewable energy businesses – China Datang Renewable Power Co and Tianwei Baobian Electric Co – and CBD Energy Limited.

Davis Polk advised FBR Capital Markets in connection with the acquisition by AloStar Bank of Commerce of substantially all of the assets, and the assumption of the liabilities of, Nexity Bank, Birmingham, Alabama from the FDIC. AloStar was capitalized with $160 million of new equity from four private equity funds and the new management team. Nexity was a bankers’ bank with approximately $800 million in assets. FBR Capital Markets acted as a financial adviser to AloStar.

A new and important growth for DLA Piper, this time in the Intellectual Property sector. On 1 June 2011 Dragotti Studio Legale Associato will join DLA Piper.