Xstrata / dresdner kleinwort

Allen & Overy (A&O) scooped this deal because the firm advised Société Générale last year on Xstrata's first syndicated loan. Société Générale was one of the co-leaders with Dresdner on the transaction, as was Credit Suisse First Boston.

Peter Schulz is handling an increasing amount of cross-border complex deal work for Dresdner through his relationship with its Luxembourg-based syndicated lending group.

This euro600m (£370.9m) syndicated loan for Swiss company Xstrata to buy Spanish-based Asturiana de Zinc is reasonably large by Spanish standards and was unusual because it was financed through the international markets. Most Spanish bid transactions have been financed domestically.

A&O gave advice in England, Spain, Luxembourg, Aruba (a Dutch dependency in the Caribbean) and the Netherlands. The firm gave Dutch and Aruba law advice out of its New York office and had other teams in London, Madrid and Luxembourg working on the deal.