Partners with US-based Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. and UK-based Hammonds LLP have approved a combination agreement that creates a new top-tier global legal practice to provide clients worldwide with comprehensive legal counsel. The combination takes effect 1 January 2011.

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International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised HSBC Rail UK Limited in connection with the restructuring and refinancing of its UK rail leasing business, Eversholt Rail, leading to its £2.1bn sale to a consortium of infrastructure funds – 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Star Capital Partners.

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Bird & Bird has advised Darwin Strategic Limited, a specialist subsidiary of Evolution Group plc focussed on the provision of equity finance facilities, on a £25m equity finance facility provided to Nighthawk Energy plc, an AIM-listed company focussing on oil and gas development and production in the US.

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Together with the global law firm Linklaters LLP, Wolf Theiss advised the private equity investment company Triton on all legal and tax-related issues connected with the takeover of Wittur, the international lift components manufacturer.

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Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP recently represented long time client StreamServe Inc. in connection with its all cash merger with a wholly owned subsidiary of Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX).  The transaction was completed on October 26, 2010, and is valued at approximately US$71 million, subject to customary purchase price and holdback adjustments.

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Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP represented SodaStream International Ltd. in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.  J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. acted as the joint bookrunning managers for the offering.  The estimated net proceeds to SodaStream, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by the company, are US$98.9 million.

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The international law firm Clifford Chance advised French financial investor Chequers Capital on the acquisition of Silver Care Holding, a Munich based operator of nursing homes, and the related acquisition financing.

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Shearman & Sterling acted as US counsel to a consortium of 27 banks led by Banca IMI, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs International and Mediobanca as Joint Global Coordinators in connection with the initial offering by Enel, Italy’s largest electricity company, and concurrent listing of the ordinary shares of Enel Green Power. The transaction, which raised gross proceeds for approximately €2.264 billion, is the largest IPO in Europe since 2008. Enel Green Power has been included in the FTSE MIB as one of the 40 largest listed companies in Italy in terms of market capitalization.

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Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP advised Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Agricole Securities (USA) Inc. and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. as joint bookrunners and representatives of the underwriters on an SEC-registered offering by Rio Tinto Finance (USA) Limited of $2 billion aggregate principal amount of notes guaranteed by Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited. The offering consisted of $500 million principal amount of 1.875% notes due 2015, $1 billion principal amount of 3.5% notes due 2020 and $500 million principal amount of 5.2% notes due 2040.

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Morrison & Foerster recently secured a victory for Target Corporation in a class action case brought by consumer Raymundo Sevidal, who alleged fraud and violation of unfair competition and false advertising laws after purchasing three clothing items from Target’s website that were misidentified as made in the United States. On October 28, 2010, the California Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court’s refusal to certify the class based on its finding that the proposed class was not ascertainable.

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