IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

White & Case moves up a tier. The firm has an especially good reputation in cartel work, but also has a good track record in merger cases and state aid.

Feedback in the market suggests that the firm's reputation briefly wobbled when it lost some of its team to Gibson Dunn, however "along with the new Shearman & Sterling they are one to watch," says a competitor.

James Killick is well thought of by clients. "Brussels, Bejing, Tokyo, South Africa and Turkey... they were quite seamless, very good. James had to meet all the people he worked with," says one. Ian Forrester is also recommended by clients, notably for a "classic" style. "He always makes you feel you are the focus of their attention; we never hear complaints or taking calls from other clients," says a client, adding that he is "pretty business-like and realistic".

Other clients also give good feedback: "excellent depth of knowledge," says one, another says: "From Eastern Europe to Poland they were very coordinated".

The firm advised Toshiba on some critical matters, among them an appeal against the commission's findings in investigations, resulting in fines, related to power transformers, gas insulated switchgears among others.

The firm has also been helping Intel appeal against a fine for abuse of dominance and Nexans confront the commission in relation to methods used in a dawn raid. Czech Airlines and SAS Air Cargo also engaged the firm, in a state aid matter and cartel investigation, respectively.

In a merger case, the firm advised Nordic Capital on its $790 million acquisition of Munters.

Peers note that White & Case has a slightly lower market profile compared to its global counterparts, but having said that it handles a fair share of complex capital market transactions, most notably in the debt markets.

Thierry Bosly, Muriel Alhadeff and Stefan Odeurs alternately lead on the firm's most notable transactions and each have established reputations in the market.

Bosly advised BNP Paribas Fortis as lead manager on what turned out to be a very successful €150 million public bonds issuance by Aquafin. Another neatly closed deal of the year saw the firm advise BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC Bank as joint lead managers on the public bond issuance of Cofinimmo, which led to a successful issuance.

Elsewhere, the firm was instructed by Calyon to advise it in its capacity as arranger of an issuance by Premium Plus of €600 million of coupon secured notes.

In another large transaction, Alhadeff advised Jefferies, UBS and Wells Fargo as joint bookrunning managers on a Rule 144A/ Reg S offering by Siemens Enterprise Communications of €200 million senior secured notes due in 2015 and guaranteed by Enterprise Networks Holdings and sixteen of its subsidiaries across ten jurisdictions.

White & Case is primarily known as a corporate firm with a strong restructuring and private equity funds practice.

One peer's comment that "the firm is very much in the bad days" strikes an odd note against the strength of its portfolio of recent transactions, and against the market reputations that its leading finance partners, Thierry Bosly, Muriel Alhadeff (who made partner in January 2011), Gisèle Rosselle and Stefan Odeurs, have.

As the merger markets pick up and private equity starts to find its feet, White & Case will no doubt go from strength to strength. Its role on a number of big projects keeps it firmly in tier three.

Living up to its reputation, the firm advised Deutsche Bank in the restructuring of Truvo's €1 billion debt through a Chapter 11 framework and helped to negotiate additional financing of €600 million. The deal involved a number of offices, but the Brussels team takes the credit for managing the coordination of the deal.

The firm bagged a number of financings for private equity funds, acting for Cobepa for its financing of an acquisition of shares in SGG, and for Crédite Agricole, Natixis, CIC, KBC and Commerzbank as lead arrangers on financing for the acquisition by PAI Funds of Cerba Laboratory Group. Still in the private equity space, the firm advised Gimv-Agri + Investment Fund and Gimv on an investment into and financing of the Eden Chocolates Group.

Rosselle led on a large project financing, assisting the European Investment Bank (EIB) on a €450 million financing for the second and third phases of the C-Power wind farm in the North Sea. The deal was the first for the off-shore wind sector and the first where banks have financed the installation and operation of new generation wind turbines.

White & Case Brussels is often viewed by commentators as a corporate and private equity driven firm with a strong reputation for restructuring work.

According to one recent client: "We used the firm on an acquisition and restructuring, and also on corporate work, going worldwide through the local office; we were quite satisfied, our main contact was Giselle Rosselle and we liked her availability and familiarity with our company. They go straight to the point and follow up on it regularly."

The firm's network is a big draw and it regularly handles cross-border projects but, says a client, you do pay a premium: "It was too expensive when we went international," says a client.

The firm was one of the busiest players in the private equity markets, winning numerous mandates from the slim pickings.

Partner Dries Hommez advised Gimv-Agri+ Investment Fund and Gimv on its investment in the Eden Chocolates group, while Thierry Bosly and Muriel Alhadeff advised Ogone on the sale of its shareholding in private equity fund Summit Partners for over €170 million.

In a deal structured as a typical LBO, Stefan Odeurs advised Belgian private equity fund Sofindev III on its acquisition of a position in Novy Holding. The firm was also mandated by a subsidiary of Cobepa, JF Hillebrand Group, for its multi-jurisdictional acquisition of Trans Ocean Distribution.

Elsewhere, Odeurs and Hommez acted for Integrated Production and Test Engineering (IPTE), a Euronext listed company, on a series of related moves resulting in the demerger of its factory automation business and subsequent acquisition of German company Platzgummer and of the electronics manufacturing business Barco. The deals were followed by a private placement of bonds.

White & Case is the undisputed market leader in Finland for capital markets, and Petri Haussila, head of the firm's global capital markets practice, is the king of the hill. "Market leader," says one peer, "all of us are far behind, they are undisputed leaders and Petri [Haussila] has an outstanding reputation."

Peers also comment that the firm's junior partners and associates, notably Mikko Hulkko (promoted to partner in 2011) and Petri Avikainen, play active roles on deals and do "a lot of the footwork".

In deals, the firm advised LSE listed Talvivaara Mining Company on a €225 million convertible bond offering, with JPMorgan Securities and Merrill Lynch International as managers. The issuance marks the first initially cash-settling convertible bond by a Finnish publically traded company.

The firm acted for Nordea Bank on the establishment of a $15 billion US MTN programme and a first $2.75 billion issuance within the programme made of three tranches comprising: unsubordinated notes due in 2014; floating rate unsubordinated notes due in 2014; and 4.8% unsubordinated notes due in 2021. The notes were listed on the LSE and sold in the US under Rule 144A.

The firm also completed a €47 million accelerated book-built offering of shares in Basware, with Nordea Bank as manager and Danske Markets (part of Danske Bank) and Jefferies International in the €50 million IPO of Zealand Pharma in Denmark. Other clients included Amer Sports and Turkish company Bizim Toptan.

White & Case moves up a tier in response to consistently high feedback from clients and competitors. The firm scores not on volume but on the high end nature of the deals it handles. Much of the financing the firm does is related either to transactions or restructuring work.

Timo Airisto comes well recommended. "He is very good and very competent," says a peer, while one client was impressed by Tanja Törnkvist. "The firm has an integrated structure, with breadth and depth and good lawyers," says a peer.

White & Case recently swelled the ranks of associates in its corporate practice with six new recruits taken at the end of 2010. Among the new associates are former New York-based Sullivan & Cromwell associate Benjamin Tuiskula, Anna Huilaja who joins from Roschier, and Olli Sailas from Castrén & Snellman.

The firm now has 30 lawyers in Helsinki, many of whom work on corporate and M&A. "Quality, cross-border and especially with capital markets," says one peer. Others say the firm is strong among industrial clients. Timo Airisto leads the team.

In one of the market's biggest deals, the firm advised UPM-Kymmene on its €900 million acquisition of Myllykoski Group and Rhein Papier. The deal included financing and the restructuring of the two purchased companies and involved two banking syndicates, German, UK and Finnish law and negotiations with different groups of owners. White & Case drafted and negotiated the two purchase agreements, restructuring and lock-up agreements, acquisition facilities and working capital facilities.

In other deals, the firm advised American Superconductor Corporation on its €190 million acquisition of The Switch Engineering and Huhtamäki on the sale of its European rigid plastic consumer goods packaging operations to Island Acquisitions for €52 million.

In a final deal, the firm helped Sanoma Group on the €116 million sale of its movie operations in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Swedish private equity company Ratos.

Key clients at White & Case include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BC Partners, BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse. On the equity side, the team last year advised Boussard & Gavaudan in connection with a transaction relating to its shareholding in Camaieu, a listed entity, principally owned by private equity fund Cinven.

The market suggests that White & Case's banking practice "mainly focuses on acquisition finance". With this area of the market very much on the upswing, the firm will be hoping to maintain its impressive run of mandates in this area.

Partners Gilles Peigney and Raphaël Richard are singled out by peers. "He's [Peigney] very senior, but he's really a recognised finance lawyer in the Paris market," says one competitor, while another one adds: "Gilles knows very well the industry, and he knows very well the LBO sector. Also because he's very old in this practice, he almost started to develop the leverage buy-out practice in the Paris market, so he's a very important figure in this market." Richard also came in for personal praise: "He's a younger partner, but he's recognised too," says one peer.

One of the firm's substantial deals saw the team advise mezzanine house ICG on the €160 million debt acquisition financing of the French restaurant chain Courtepaille by Fondations Capital.

Another highlight saw the team advise the arrangers, including Société Générale, BNP Paribas, and HSBC France, in relation to the approximately €207 million acquisition financing of the French chemicals company Novacap by Axa Private Equity from US private equity firm Bain Capital.

2010 also saw the firm advise a number of notable deals, including acting for both underwriters and the buyers. For instance, the team advised Société Générale in relation to the €900 million syndicated term-loan facility and the €600 million bonds loan to Accor Services, in the context of the service division's spin-off from multinational corporation Accor. The division later became Edenred.

On the buy side, the team represented BC Partners on the €600 million LBO acquisition of Spotless, the French cleaning products maker, from Axa Private Equity. The transaction was closed through an innovative "double LuxCo" (acquisition house) structure.

White & Case has been kept busy over the last year advising on quite a few M&A transactions and the firm's key clients include MMA, Alma Consulting Group, ABB and Hilton alike. One highlight saw a Paris team advise Unibail Rodamco in connection with the acquisition of Lehwood Montparnasse, owner of Le Méridien Montparnasse hotel, from Starman Group. The transaction was closed in September 2010.

Another notable mandate saw the team advise France Télécom on its acquisition of a 40% share of Médi Télécom's capital and voting rights from the groups "Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion" (CDG) and FinanceCom.

On the private equity side, Raphaël Richard acted for Novacap advising Société Générale, BNP Paribas and HSBC France as arrangers of the senior debt for an amount of approximately €208 million in relation to the financing of the acquisition of the chemistry group Novacap by Axa Private Equity from Bain Capital. The mandate was closed in March 2011.

The most notable compliment for White & Case's project finance team from its clients is the partners' commitment. "We really like White & Case, which is not always the case in the other law firms," says one. "Because the partners in White & Case are participating in the whole process, in our every meeting."

Partner Paule Biensan also came in for personal praise. "Biensan is a really dedicated person to her job, and very professional. So we had a very good relationship in the past," says one.

Alongside Biensan, the key figures involved in most of the transactions are partners Jacques Bouillon, and Victoria Westcott. One notable energy mandate in the French market saw the team advise the EIB (European Investment Bank) and a consortium of eight commercial banks over a €940 million financing of the A63 motorway between Salles and Saint-Geours-de-Maremne.

Another highlight saw the team advise a group of lenders, including Natixis, Santander, ING, Fortis and Helaba, on a €935 million financing of the A65 motorway in France by a French construction company Eiffage.

The Paris office's reputation and professionalism are been singled out by one client. "They're very well-known here in Paris in the project finance. I would say they're one of the best teams in this practice area," says one. "They're very good professionals, and very dedicated people. They take account for every single detail, and they're trying to defend our position and interest against the sponsors in a professional way."

In Scandinavia, the firm was also called in to advise the lenders in relation to support its consortium, composed of Strabag and Zurich Airport, in the current public tender for the E18 motorway in Finland.

Again the team's capacity in Africa has been proved to be strong and solid as they advised on a number of infrastructure, energy and natural resources transactions. One example saw them advise on the €280 million financing for a Tunisian cement plant, with funding drawn from local and international sources. The plant produces 500,800 tons of cement per day in DjeBel Ressas.

"They have a big team. Paule whom I spoke to with others are active. They deserve the ranking," says one rival.

The firm is well known for its emerging markets practice and this was demonstrated through a number of African mandates last year. In one example the team advised sponsors BHP Billiton, Dubal, Mubadal and the project company over their $4 million financing of a major mining project in the Republic of Guinea. In Morocco, the team advised two Moroccan lenders in relation to its financing for an approximately 1320MW coal-fired electric generating station, before the bidding consortium's final offer submission for the project. Finally in the Republic of Senegal, the firm advised a consortium of banks, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), BAD, BOAD, and CBAD, over their financing for a toll motorway in the country's capital Dakar. In addition, the team also advised the project company formed by Eiffage in relation to the financing and concession of the same toll motorway.

"White & Case have been providing very reliable feedback, dedication, and all the answers to the questions raised by the project. They're answering in time in a reasonable manner that helps the project run smoothly," says one client.

Department head Lutz Krämer and partners Benedikt Gillessen and James Black have combined on White & Case's recent equity work. The trio represented Gildemeister on a two-step €220 million capital increase, entailing a placement of shares with the company's Japanese partner and fellow power-tool manufacturer Mori Seiki, followed by a rights offering to existing shareholders.

Acting for underwriters Deutsche Bank and HSBC, the team advised on a €270 million rights offer by Aareal Bank as it sought to strengthen its capital base. The team also advised Deutsche EuroShop in its €130 million offering in October 2010.

In an ongoing deal, the firm was advising Deutsche Bank in connection with the planned merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext. White &Case's client is acting as agent for the future listing of shares of the new holding company, Alpha Beta Netherlands, which will be formed when the two exchanges become one.

The debt capital markets practice at White & Case gets a mixed response from the market, with some commentators saying they are present and capable while others query the complexity of the mandates they secure: "I only see them doing stand-up work not the bespoke work," says a competitor.

The practice is headed by Jochen Artzinger-Bolten, who led on all the firm's notable mandates. In September 2010 he closed two deals, advising the issuer, healthcare company Asklepios Kliniken, on its €150 million 4% seven year debut bond issue and, the lead managers, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit Bank, on a €500 million debut bond issue of Rheinmetall, a manufacturer of defence and automotive components.

A notable piece of programme work saw the firm advise Morgan Stanley as arranger on the annual update of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg's €50 million EMTN programme.

The firm has also been advising UBS on the update of its Structured Note Programme, which allows for the issuance of virtually all types of structured notes with additional features such as a Swiss law option, Swiss settlement and Scandinavian clearing systems.

In the past 12 month White & Case practice head Ulf Kreppel and partners Dennis Heuer and Michael Rützel have acted on CMBS (commercial mortgage backed security) and RMBS (residential mortgage backed security) restructurings for Hatfield Philips International, Belltrend Menorah Enterprises and Barclays Capital and Residential Capital.

The firm has also been appointed as counsel for UniCredit's ABCP programmes Arabella and Salome. Heuer, Nick Wittek also acts as panel advisers for ABCP work for Helaba Landesbank and LBBW and recently advised Volvo Financial Services Europe on their contemplated ABCP conduit transactions.

On the structured asset-based lending side the firm has been advising clients China Development Bank Jiangsu Branch, North Channel Bank and Bank of America on different asset classes such as trade receivables and life insurance policies.

In other notable work, Heuer was advising the City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein, jointly holding a stake of about 85% in HSH Nordbank, on the structuring of a risk shield with a guarantee of €10 billion provided by the two federal states, a €3 billion capital increase and the establishment of a joint fund by both states.

One client, who was delighted with the work Heuer had done for his company, said: "Dennis is our main point of contact, he's brilliant."

There are murmurs amongst White & Case's rivals that although strong on leveraged finance, the firm has lost ground in recent, leaner times in which refinancing has become the mainstay for most lawyers. "My impression is that they suffered a little bit in the financial market crisis since they had a very specialised focus," says one competitor.

However, clients view the practice and its head Annica Lindegren positively: "We like them first of all for their professionalism. They are commercial, they have a very good team so you are not relying on a partner or one or two associates and they are experienced," says one. Another client values the firm's knowledge: "They have a very decent insight in to what was recently done and what is required. They have a good grasp of current market trends and term fees of facility agreements."

Lindegren is seen as the banking practice's driving force and with the market stabilising there is the sense that the firm will make a push towards the top tier again. "They had a very good run under the lead of Lindegren. They dwelled on leveraged acquisitions and the market is picking up so that will help them," says one peer.

The firm remains strong in acquistion financing. Recently Lindegren represented a consortium of nine banks coordinated by Commerzbank in relation to the financing of Triton's acquisition of Tyco Waterworks European business from its holding company. She also fronted the team advising Commerzbank, Société Générale and DZ Bank on financing British Private House Bridgepoint's acquisition of CABB.

On the refinancing side, partner Leïla Röder acted for Evonik Industries on adjusting its €1.5 billion credit line. Röder was also lead counsel for Commerzbank and ING Bank as arrangers for €160 million senior financing of the acquisition of GHD GesundHeits by IK Investment Partners.

Partner Philipp Windemuth left White & Case in October 2010 for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe but the firm has since hired Lars Böttcher from Oppenhoff & Partner.

The firm was involved in Swiss chemical group Clariant's acquisition of German-based Süd-Chemie. Markus Hauptmann led a team on the €2 billion deal.

The aerospace sector kept Philipp Graf von Dürckheim busy in 2010. He was lead counsel for the firm when it advised Jenoptik on the sale of its subsidiary space division Jena-Optronik to Astrium, a global leader in the industry.

White & Case also acted as lead counsel for Finnish client UPM, the paper manufacturer, in its acquisition of Myllykoski Group and Rhein Papier for a combined total of €900 million. A follow-on instruction saw the firm advise on the restructuring of Myllykoski Group and Rhein Papier.

White & Case's private equity team had some changes in personal in 2010. Lars Böttcher joined the firm's partnership from Oppenhoff & Partner as did Henning Fischer but as a local partner, while Florian Hirschmann was hired as a local partner from Ashurst in July 2010. Partner Philipp Windemuth, who joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in October 2010, was the one notable loss.

Between July and December 2010 Christoph von Einem and a team were active for client 3M New Ventures advising on a series of investments in Germany, including the acquisition of stakes in txtr, Printechnologics, ZV3 - Zircon Vision and MotionID Technologies.

Von Einem also acted for European energy company Entelios on the successful completion of its Series A financing round led by Yellow&Blue Investment Management, a Dutch clean energy investor and High-Tech Gründerfonds, a German venture capital investor, in January 2011.

The firm's biggest recent transaction saw the team advise SiC Processing, a leading supplier in the recovery and processing of sawing slurry in silicon wafer production, on the sale of a majority stake to Nordic Capital Fund VII. The €477 million transaction was designed as a dual track process with the option of an IPO.

Cross border renewable projects in Central and Eastern Europe have predominantly occupied the firm in the last 12 months. Practise head Alexander Reuter and partner Kai Kindereit worked alongside the firm's Prague office advising a consortium of banks on the financing a 13.6 MW photovoltaic power plant in the Czech Republic. The project reached financial close in July 2010. More recently, Kindereit and Ralph Busch finalised the financing of two further photovoltaic plants in the country, with a combined capacity of 5.8 MW, in February 2011.

The firm has also been advising a selection of German banks on providing funding for wind farms in Poland, Belgium and Bulgaria. The latter reached financial close with the assistance of Kindereit in December 2010.

On the solar energy side, the firm has been active in Spain, advising Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank separately regarding the financing of two projects. Another European bank has also mandated the firm to advice on the structuring of a potential bond financing for a portfolio of solar parks in Italy

Partner Kindereit has certainly done the miles in the last few months and back in June 2010 he advised a syndicate of development banks regarding the financing for the expansion and modernisation of a hospital in Brazil.

The only international firm to act as an insolvency administrator and as an advisor, White & Case's competitors query how active the firm is on the restructuring side of the market and the majority of the firm's notable mandates corroborate this. "They are not someone we would see on any of the major transactions," explains one peer.

The practice is headed jointly by partners Biner Bähr and Sven-Holger Undritz who are both experienced insolvency administrators but some felt they are lacking a true restructuring partner. "They have the two administrators but in restructuring they haven't played very prominent roles recently," says one peer.

Acting as administrators, Bähr was appointed to act over the assets of Systaic, a listed German manufacturer of decentralized energy supply, and Undritz acted on a deal for German charter airline HI Hamburg International Luftverkehrsgesellschaft. Undritz closed the deal in April 2011, succeeding in the transfer of business assets and the company continues to operate under the new name Hamburg Airways.

In an ongoing deal partner Christoph Schulte Kaubrügger has been appointed to act for AKT, which produces plastic injection-moulding components for the automotive industry and has operations in Germany, Czech Republic and Spain.

White & Case has a strong reputation in debt capital markets especially and its US connection gives it the edge on large equity and debt deals, many of which have a US law angle. According to a leading domestic bank, the firm has "maybe the best bond coverage of all".

"In IPO or equity issues you always need UK or US law advice," says a client who chooses White & Case over local firms "and when there is a local counsel and another firm sometimes you get varying opinions, but if it is one firm you get one answer". "It is a one stop shop in all things US," admits a peer, "so they can get into some very big transactions."

The firm's global head of capital markets, Finland-based Petri Haussila, boosts its reputation even in Sweden, while on the ground Jan Lombach manages a highly regarded practice. In 2010/2011 the firm also recruited Tuula Tallavaara, Martina Engström and Fredrik Stjärnström. Tallavaara in particular has quickly developed a strong name. M&A lawyers Mats Boman and Anna Sundberg also lend weight to the equity practice, while Joakim Falkner leads on many of the debt deals.

Boman and Falkner recently helped C-Rad move from its listing on the Aktietorget to the First North, and completed rights issues for C-Ras and Forestlight Studio.

Falkner was also engaged by Stadshypotek to establish a $15 billion US MTN covered bond programme with a follow-on issuance of $1 billion of 1.45% covered bonds due in 2013 and of $600 million of floating rate covered bonds due in 2013. Falkner also worked on EMTN programme updates for Stadshypotek, on its €15 billion programme, and Handelsbanken, on its $15 billion programme.

The firm keeps its position in the rankings. It is best known for its private equity practice, with large clients such as Nordic Capital. In June 2011 the firm boosted its banking practice with the hire of partner Carl Hugo Parment from DnB NOR Bank.

In recent banking deals, Magnus Wennerhorn acted for Nordea Bank as senior arranger and agent on the financing for EQT's €260 million acquisition of AcadeMedia in July 2010. Lennart Pettersson also acted Nordic Capital on the acquisition finance for its purchase of Handicare Group of companies.

The six partner led corporate team at White & Case is best known in private equity (PE), but, as one peer comments, the firm has also been increasing its standing in public M&A in recent years. Peers note that the firm's exposure to the sluggish PE market took some toll, but also consistently point out that it has a good brand name in Sweden. The firm has one of the strongest deal lists in the market.

One private equity client which uses the firm on funds work, corporate financing and M&A says the firm has "a very strong standing in corporate finance, they deliver good quality advice, timely attention and sound advice. You can really rely on them for all the bread and butter stuff", says the client, "and while some firms can be very dogmatic and hard to deviate, our culture is analytically flexible and so are they." The client recommends Claes Zettermarck.

According to a peer, Zettermarck is "one of the founding fathers of the office, a very good and exceptional lawyer and deservedly listed".

A client which used the firm on a couple of acquisitions says: "Very good, I must say, proactive and they did a great job." Another client praises Mats Boman as "very pragmatic, understands quickly our objectives [and] requirements... highly regarded, very good in many areas but especially M&A".

Anna Sundberg and Lennart Pettersson acted for Nycomed Sweden Holding on the divestment of the majority of the Nycomed group to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company for €9.6 billion to a consortium of private equity funds, including Nordic Capital Funds V and VI, where we represented Nordic Capital. Ulf Johanssen and the well regarded Tuula Tallavaara acted for EQT V on it $3.34 billion sale of Securitas Direct to a consortium led by Bain Capital and Hellman & Freidman in June 2011.

Jan Lombach led on a large merger advising the boards of directors of the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm listed companies Latour and SäkI to form the largest industrial holding companies in Sweden with an estimated net asset value of $3.9 billion.

White & Case's key focus across all areas of the capital markets is founded on the strength of its emerging markets practice. "White & Case we see in emerging markets, they are in that space, they have a strong Russian, Kazakh niche," says one partner and another agrees: "White & Case are pretty much emerging markets in debt capital markets with a bit of high-yield."

Clients are also drawn in by this experience: "It's always good, I just think that because we specialise in emerging markets that for us is a big factor. We find White & Case a lot more pro-active in emerging markets. They don't seem too fazed," says one.

The Ukraine has been the source of a lot of the firm's work recently, with examples including advise to ING, RBS and Erste Group Bank as initial purchasers of energy company DTEK's $500 million in 9.5% senior notes, the largest ever Ukrainian Eurobond offering and acting for Credit Suisse, Citi and Deutsche Bank on the offer of $300 million in 11% deposit linked notes by Ukreximbank, the Ukrainian state import-export bank.

Clients picked out Michael Doran and Stuart Mathy for particular praise: "Stuart and Michael were always there when I needed them to be," says one. "Of all the law firms they are one of the best in terms of being there for pre-mandate and pre-appointment work, it's a vital step on the road." Another agrees: "They come across to me as a responsive very eager team and certainly when I have been dealing with them you do feel like you're getting the A-team offering, particularly in places like Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, they have the background and the knowledge."

Africa also proved to be a good hunting ground and the team acted for HSBC and Standard Bank on the establishment of a $1 billion MTN programme by Eastern & Southern African Trade and Development Bank and the initial $300 million issuance under it on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

In addition the team acted for the Federal Republic of Nigeria on its debut Rule 144A/Reg S $500 million bond issue on the LSE, the first international issue ever completed by the country.

The White & Case high-yield team is led by the department's three key partners: Rob Mathews, Colin Chang and David Becker. The firm is still best known for its work in emerging markets, in particular Turkey, Kazakhstan and across the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) region.

A strong finance offering is another key element for any successful high-yield practice and the firm has successfully fought back after key members of its banking team departed two years ago.

One deal which highlighted the firm's geographical strengths saw it work for Turkish construction company Yuksel Insaat on a $200 million issue of 9.5% senior notes. This was the first New York law governed high-yield issue by a Turkish company in 15 years.

Another emerging markets deal saw Colin Chang act for the holding company Kazakh oil and gas company Zhaikmunai on the issuance of senior notes by its subsidiary Zhaikmunai Finance, the aim of which is to repay existing senior secured facilities.

With high-yield being used for a wide variety of uses in the current market, the team showed its flexibility by acting for Wind Acquisition Finance and Italian telecoms company Wind Telecomunicazioni on their €6.6 billion refinancing including a bond offering of €2.7 billion dual tranche senior secured bonds.

Finally another interesting deal and a first in the market, saw Rob Matthews lead a team acting for the Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company in the Saudi Arabia in regard to a $450 million offering of Reg S/Rule 144A notes on the LSE. Notable for being the first ever high-yield issue of Islamic bonds, the deal saw the bonds issued utilising a sukuk al-wakala (Islamic bond with underlying asset) structure through a Cayman SPV (special purpose vehicle).

White & Case's derivatives team was expanded last year as Jeremy Trinder was promoted to partner. He also works on real estate linked structured finance and securitisation.

The team led by Gavin McLean also had to adjust to seeing partner David Barwise relocating to the Singapore office, while Rich Reilly moved across from New York.

The firm's strength is seen to be in emerging markets and one client who worked with the firm in Indonesia was pleased with the depth of knowledge displayed by the team. "Very innovative, during the transaction there was a lot of dangerous Indonesian law issues, collateralising Indonesian law. They zeroed in on the best options."

Another client who worked with Barwise pointed out the lengths the firm goes to maintain relationships: "They always make the effort to meet up. David recently gave an in-house presentation on derivatives and the latest developments on it They treat us very well. Friendly bunch, nice to deal with."

There was a fair amount of movement at White & Case last year, with David Barwise moving to Singapore, Josh Parbhu moving to Johannesburg and Rich Reilly relocating from New York to London.

The team was also enhanced by the promotion to partner of Jeremy Trinder who focuses on CMBS and RMBS transactions. Trinder has already taken steps to establish his name and last year he advised Investec and Barclays Capital as the arrangers on the RMS 25 RMBS transaction. The firm had previously acted for Kensington Mortgages before it were acquired by Investec.

Before departing for Singapore, Barwise was also kept busy advising rating agency Standard & Poor's on the Tesco Property Finance 3 and 4, securitisations of various stores and distribution stores.

The banking team at White & Case has rebuilt quite impressively since losing some of its key partners to Latham & Watkins in 2009. This has continued apace in 2010/11 with the recruitment of Skadden's Christian Pilkington and Gide's Christopher Czarnocki. In addition the firm has relocated Jake Mincemoyer from New York.

In line with the market, the firm had the opportunity to show its combined bank and high-yield ability last year as it advised Italian Wind Telecomunicazioni on its €6.6 billion refinancing. This was accomplished through both a credit facility and a bond issue.

The firm is arguably best known for its merging markets practice and is one of the few foreign practices to have a strong presence in Kazakhstan. This strength was demonstrated last year as the team acted on the restructuring of one of the country's major banks BTA. With the firm having played a major role in the drafting of the new Kazakh restructuring law, they were well placed to act on the deal which saw BTA restructure its $16.65 billion debt, requiring recognition from the courts in the US, UK and the Ukraine.

Clients seemed to be impressed by the new team and in particular head of bank finance Magdalene Bayim-Aolomako, however some did have reservations about the depth of knowledge of the associates: "She [Bayim-Aolomako] was always on point and accuracy was very high as long as she was involved," says one. "There were some instances where other members of the team didn't quite come up to standard, but the response was an adequate one. They fixed it, they explained it and they acknowledged the mistake."

Russian based work was also on the agenda, with the team acting for Gazprombank in relation to a $900 million syndicated financing from 12 mandated arrangers.

On the acquisition side, this time acting for the banks, the firm also provided advice to Nordea Bank on the €260 million acquisition by EQT of AcadeMedia. The team also acted for the bank on AcadeMedia's subsequent restructuring.

White & Case boosted its regulatory team this year through the hire of Stuart Willey from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) where he had been head of the wholesale legal department. Wiley joins the four-partner team led by Carmen Reynolds.

Reynolds advised the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank last year as it established a new shariah-compliant retail bank in the UK.

The team has also continued to provide input on new legislation as part of its role on several committees including the Alternative Investment Management Association, the Law Society's Company Law Committee Regulatory Sub-Committee and the Financial Markets Law Committee.

White & Case's R&I team is focused on debt restructuring often emanating from emerging jurisdictions in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) and the Middle East.

Clearly the key deal for the firm last year was advising Greek telecommunications company Wind Hellas on its €1.9 billion debt restructuring. The deal, which was led by Mark Glengarry and Christian Pilkington saw the firm restructure in order for it to be reacquired by existing sponsor Weather Investments.

"White & Case is extremely good at restructuring, well suited for the broad spectrum of situations with good knowledge of administration as well as bespoke financial transactions," was one clients view of the firm and another agrees: "Established relationship for five years. Continued excellence in restructuring, performing at a high standard to continue to get our business, they do very well."

The firm is best known for its emerging markets practice and this was demonstrated last year as it acted for two of Kazakhstan's major banks, BTA Bank and Alliance bank as they looked to restructure their debts under the new Kazakh banking law. With the firm having helped to draft the law, they were well placed to act on the deals. In London Francis Fitzherbert-Brockholes, Stuart Matty and Mark Glengarry led the team.

In Russia, the firm worked on another debt restructuring deal, this time for En+ Group, an aluminium and energy conglomerate as it restructured a $1.05 billion loan.