The ProSiebenSat.1 group has sold its TV and print activities in the Netherlands and its TV business in Belgium. The businesses will be acquired by a consortium between Sanoma Corporation and Talpa Holding NV regarding the Dutch assets and between Sanoma Corporation, Corelio N.V. and Waterman & Waterman CVA in Belgium.The enterprise value underlying the transaction totals EUR 1.225 billion. The transaction in the Netherlands is subject to the approvals by the competent antitrust authorities. The other business activities of the ProSiebenSat.1 group in the Netherlands and Belgium including the production sector are not part of the transaction.

On April 18, Willkie client France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom announced their plan to form a 50/50 procurement joint venture that is expected to result in a combined savings of a about €1.3 billion after three years of implementation. The agreement calls for combining the two companies’ procurement activities of customer equipment, network equipment, service platforms and IT infrastructure. France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with 169,000 employees worldwide and sales of €45.5 billion in 2010.

Holland & Knight is currently representing the Jicarilla Apache Nation before the U.S. Supreme Court in a high-profile breach of trust case against the United States. The main issue is whether the federal government can claim “attorney-client privilege” to withhold from an Indian tribe information regarding the government’s administration of money that it holds in trust for the tribe.

Herbert Smith has advised a new FTSE-listed client, Cineworld Group plc (Cineworld) on its recently concluded £170 million sterling term and multicurrency revolving facilities agreement.

International law firm Clifford Chance advised Sanoma on the acquisition of the SBS free-to-air TV assets in the Netherlands and Belgium from ProSiebenSat.1 together with a strong consortium of local partners.

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.