According to the market and the firm's deal list, Hogan Lovells is benefiting on the M&A side from its own merger. A series of favourable recommendations from piers sees the combined US and UK offering join the third tier....
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According to the market and the firm's deal list, Hogan Lovells is benefiting on the M&A side from its own merger. A series of favourable recommendations from piers sees the combined US and UK offering join the third tier.
Ex-pat Nick Parden, who is singled out by several peers as a "good lawyer", led a team on the firm's largest transaction advising Citi Infrastructure Investors on its $1.5billon acquisition of a majority stake in DP World's Australian shipping terminal businesses in April 2011.
In April 2011 Abu Dhabi partner Sean Harrion closed a deal for Kingdom Hotel Investments which sold the Swissôtel Kunshan in China to Swiss Liberty, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysian listed company, TA Global for $60 million.
M&A practise head Imtiaz Shah and Warren Thomson are active on a substantial cross border debt for equity swap.
Hogan Lovells' partnership grew in 2010 with of counsel Imran Mufti, who divides his time between Saudi Arabia and UAE, promoted in May. One client based in the former, who utilises Mufti in both jurisdictions, considers him an excellent choice for either, saying: "He's a good as any lawyer I have dealt with. His particular strength is Islamic and shariah finance."
In capital markets debt work, Mufti advised the joint-lead arrangers – Calyon Saudi Fransi, GIB Financial Services, HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited and Samba Capital and Investment Management Company – of Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation's (APICORP) SR2 billion bond, which closed in October 2010.
Capital markets and finance practise Rahail Ali was also active on the debt side, advising the joint lead managers of Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Türk Katılım Bankası's $100 million sukuk (Islamic bond). The deal was the first Islamic bond issued from Turkey and the first sukuk issued for a bank in Europe.
On the finance side, Ali acted for the Barwa Real Estate Company on securing $5 billion in Islamic finance facilities. The deal included a $3.5 billion murabaha (deferred sale) facility provided through an issuance of a Reg S and Rule 144A State of Qatar guaranteed bond and a $1.5 billion facility arranged by HSBC and Standard Chartered.
In another Islamic finance role, Rustum Shah advised on a dual-secured multi-currency syndicated murabaha facilities equating to $282 million for VIVA Bahrain. The deal included US Dollar, Bahraini Dinar and Saudi Riyal tranches in the amounts of $170 million, BD7.45 million ($19 milllion) and SR337.5 million ($89 million) for the Bahraini telecoms company, a subsidiary of Saudi Telecommunications Company.
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