Ashurst advised an international banking syndicate in relation to the issue of the first benchmark bond of Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA). The bond with a nominal amount of €1.5bn and a maturity of 5 years (due 2016) will pay a coupon of 3.125 per cent per annum.

Wolf Theiss advised paysafecard.com Wertkarten Vertriebs GmbH, a leading provider of prepaid payment solutions, on securing the first – and so far only – payment services concession in Austria.

Bird & Bird has advised Northland Resources S.A. (listed on the Toronto and Oslo Exchanges) in connection with the sale of the company’s non-ferrous projects in Sweden, including the Barsele Gold Project, to TSX Venture Exchange listed Orex Minerals Inc, a silver and gold exploration company with projects in Mexico.

Shearman & Sterling advised Eurex Zürich AG (Eurex) on the increase of its stake in Leipzig-based European Energy Exchange AG (EEX).

International legal practice Norton Rose (Middle East) LLP has advised Citibank as arranger in relation to a US$300,000,000 dual tranche Murabaha syndicated facility for Turkiye Finans Katılım Bankası A.S., an Islamic bank in Turkey 60% owned by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest Islamic syndication in Turkey to date.

International legal practice Norton Rose LLP has assisted Capita Trust Company Limited (Capita) in connection with the innovative restructuring of the pension liabilities of Uniq Plc (Uniq), the first pension deficit for equity swap of a listed company to take place in the UK with this structure.

Covington & Burling LLP has secured an important victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on behalf of Family Dollar Stores, Inc., which had been accused of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Atlanta partner Rusty Pickering with assistance from Washington, DC, associate Peter Strand and Atlanta associate Brad Burman recently assisted Superior International Industries in its sale to private equity firm Pfingsten Partners, LLC. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Shearman & Sterling advised alstria office REIT-AG (alstria), a German REIT-corporation listed in the Regulated Market (Regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (S-DAX), on the implementation of a capital increase and an offering of a total of 28,200,000 alstria-shares, including 18,200,000 shares (2,200,000 greenshoe shares) from the holdings of alstria’s majority shareholder Captiva.

Shearman & Sterling is representing Cals Refineries Ltd in the US$417 million acquisition of Cenco and Atas oil refinery assets from the Hardt Group.