The Firm represented affiliates of The Blackstone Group in connection with its acquisition from ProLogis of a portfolio of 182 industrial properties comprising over 23 million square feet of space in 19 states and 28 markets.  The 182 industrial assets are leased to over 500 tenants.  ProLogis has retained a preferred equity interest of approximately $190 million in the Blackstone entity that acquired the portfolio. The acquisition was financed by a $514 million syndicated five-year senior secured term loan originated by Wells Fargo.

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Olswang has acted for BBC Worldwide in the £97m sale to Discovery of their remaining 50% stake of the global channel network Animal Planet. A separate part of the deal was the extension of the BBC’s co-production deal with Discovery which guarantees the latter’s investment into the making of natural history and factual programmes.

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Hogan Lovells has advised JP Morgan as sole bookrunner on an equity placing by Helical Bar to raise gross proceeds of £29 million. The placing completed on 8 December.

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RealD Inc. (NYSE:  RLD), a leading global licensor of 3D technologies, today closed on a secondary offering of 8,987,251 shares of RealD common stock, including 1,172,250 shares issued upon the exercise in full of the underwriters over-allotment option, at the public offering price of $27.75 per share.  All of the shares were sold by existing stockholders and RealD did not sell any shares of common stock in the secondary offering and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

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International law firm Pinsent Masons is advising Yule Catto & Co plc (Yule Catto), the international producer of speciality chemicals on its acquisition of the entire share capital of PolymerLatex Deutschland GmbH (PolymerLatex), the leading global player in latex products, for €443 million (£376 million) from Towerbrook Capital Partners (UK). Completion is conditional upon approval by Yule Catto’s shareholders at a general meeting to be held on 30 December 2010 and by European competition authorities.

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International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) on the launch of its 130th anniversary series of debentures at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The debentures will entitle the holders to have a priority right to purchase tickets for all of the Welsh national team’s home rugby matches for the next fifteen years.

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Hogan Lovells has advised EDF in connection with a €4 billion syndicated multicurrency revolving loan facility. This new line of credit has a maturity of 5 years, with the facility to extend it to 7 years.

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Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised HSBC and LGI Ventures (an affiliate of Liberty Global), as part of a wider group of investors and banks, in connection with a US$1.2billion investment in satellite operator O3b Networks Limited, a developer of a new fibre-quality, satellite-based global internet backbone for telecommunications operators and internet service providers serving the emerging markets.

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A team from the Leeds office of Hammonds LLP has advised Shipley-based registered social landlord, Accent Group, on the sale of its shares in two NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) companies in Bradford & Airedale, and Tees Valley & South Durham.

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Haynes and Boone, LLP represented Wingate Partners in its recent acquisition of Preferred Compounding Corp., a supplier of proprietary and custom mixed rubber compounds with manufacturing plants in Tallapoosa, Ga.; Huntingdon, Tenn.; Fruithurst, Ala.; and Barberton, Ohio (company headquarters). Preferred Compounding was previously owned by The Watermill Group of Lexington, Mass.

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