Litigator and corporate advisor Melanie Joo joins Thompson Coburn in Los Angeles

Thompson Coburn is pleased to announce that Melanie Joo has joined the firm as a partner in our Los Angeles office. Melanie previously was Counsel at Arent Fox LLP. She is the 20th attorney to join Thompson Coburn’s growing Los Angeles office since the firm’s 2013 combination with Freedman Weisz LLP.

Melanie focuses her practice in two main areas: The representation of automotive companies, including vehicle dealerships and manufacturers, and the representation of Korean companies and other Asia-based clients entering the U.S. market.

Melanie, who speaks Korean, counsels Asian companies across a host of industries, including automotive, electronics manufacturing, fashion and hospitality. She serves as a partner and advisor to such clients on all aspects of doing business in the United States, from market entry, formation and cross border transactions, to intellectual property, advertising and complex litigation. Melanie guides Asia-based companies through corporate formation, advises executives on all aspects of franchising, licensing and regulatory laws, and offers continuing counsel as they expand in the U.S. market.

For nearly a decade, Melanie has represented automotive industry clients on a variety of federal and state regulatory matters, class action and consumer litigation, and transactional matters. She counsels automotive clients on multi-agency government investigations and has a team ready to provide clients with multi-state mapping of applicable laws and regulations across the country. Melanie also has extensive experience representing startup electric vehicle manufacturers, Internet-based automotive advertising companies and national automotive retailers.

Melanie is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Korean American Bar Association, the International Association of Korean Lawyers, and the Korean American Chamber of Commerce Los Angeles.

She earned her law degree from Tulane University School of Law and her B.A. degree from the University of Southern California.

Tags:  Thompson Coburn LLP | Los Angeles

Susan L. Daly Joins Procopio

Procopio is pleased to announce the addition of partner Susan L. Daly to the firm’s Real Estate team.

Susan focuses her practice on representing developers of residential and commercial real estate. She has extensive experience in numerous types of subdivided land projects in California, Hawaii, Arizona and Oregon, including condominiums, planned developments, standard subdivisions, mixed-use projects, mixed-use high-rise projects, commercial condominium projects, residential master-planned communities, resort master-planned communities, golf course communities and custom home developments. Susan works regularly with builders and developers to obtain subdivision public reports from the California Bureau of Real Estate and approval of subdivision documents from local city and county planning departments. She also works with developers and lenders on broken common interest development projects. More >>

Tags:  Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP | San Diego

Shearman & Sterling Advises on McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.’s $700 Million Senior Notes Offering

Shearman & Sterling represented Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Mizuho Securities USA Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as joint bookrunning managers in connection with McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.’s investment-grade Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of $700 million aggregate principal amount of 4.000% Senior Notes due 2025, guaranteed by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. More >>

Tags:  Shearman & Sterling LLP | New York

HCA Completes $1.6 Billion High Yield Debt Offering

Simpson Thacher recently represented HCA Inc. in its high yield offering of $1.6 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.375% Senior Notes due 2025. The notes represent a further issuance of HCA’s 5.375% Senior Notes due 2025 that were issued on January 16, 2015. HCA intends to use the net proceeds for the redemption of certain of HCA Holdings, Inc.’s existing senior notes and for general corporate purposes. More >>

Tags:  New York

Global Transactional Attorney Joins BakerHostetler

International and domestic transactional attorney, Partner Rajiv Khanna has joined BakerHostetler’s Business Group in the firm’s New York office. Khanna comes to BakerHostetler from Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Khanna brings more than 35 years of experience, including four years practicing in New Delhi, India, counseling publicly and privately held clients on domestic, cross-border, and multijurisdictional M&A transactions; securities offerings; corporate and project finance; and real estate transactions. His business background allows him to advise clients in a business friendly manner in technology, pharmaceutical, financial services, energy, consumer products and other industries through mergers and acquisitions, initial and follow-on public offerings, and other transactions. Khanna most recently counseled a Fortune 500 company on its mergers and acquisitions. His fluency in Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi allows him to serve multinational clients with interests in South Asia. He is recognized as a New York Super Lawyer (2006-2008) and is listed in Jewels of India. More >>

Tags:  New York

Buchanan Strengthens D.C. Office with Financial Services Shareholder Kathryn A. Kronquist

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney announced today the addition of Shareholder Kathryn A. Kronquist to its Washington, D.C. office. Kronquist comes to Buchanan from Quarles and Brady LLP, where she was a partner in the firm’s D.C. office. She will focus her practice on commercial finance, commercial real estate finance and bank regulatory matters. More >>

Tags:  Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC | Washington

Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc.’s Inaugural Private Offering of $2.75 Billion of Senior Notes

Hunton & Williams LLP advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc. and Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., as joint book-running managers, in connection with Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc.’s (“CPG”) inaugural issuance of $2.75 billion in aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes (the “notes”) in a private placement under Rule 144A and Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, to eligible purchasers. The notes will initially be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by certain of CPG’s subsidiaries. A portion of the net proceeds from the private offering will be used to fund a special dividend to NiSource Inc., CPG’s parent company, in connection with their planned separation, which is expected to take place in mid-2015. Upon the completion of the planned separation, CPG will become a stand-alone publicly traded company, focusing on natural gas pipeline and related businesses. More >>

Tags:  New York

Stroock Continues National Expansion with Addition of Eight Real Estate Attorneys in Washington, DC and New York

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP is pleased to announce the addition of eight attorneys, including three partners, from DLA Piper to the Firm’s national Real Estate Practice Group. Joining the Firm’s Washington, DC office are partner Jeffrey R. Keitelman, who will serve as a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, co-chair of the Real Estate Practice Group and co-managing partner of the Washington, DC office, and partner Kim Pagotto. Joining the Firm’s New York office is partner Marc Hurel. In addition, of counsels Richard Cohn, Jonathan A. Cohen and Joseph F. Miller; special counsel Hala M. Sibay; and associate Kelly Booker will also join the Firm. More >>

Tags:  Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP | New York | Washington

White & Case Advises IFC and the IFC Global Infrastructure Fund on Equity Investment in China Tian Lun Gas

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFC Global Infrastructure Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company (AMC), as co-investors on an aggregate US$150 million equity investment in China Tian Lun Gas Holdings Limited More >>

Tags:  White & Case LLP | Beijing | Hong Kong