The firm originally anticipated raising $100m (£62.4m) through a private placement, but US investors' appetite for diversifying portfolios away from more risky corporates and the current low in US interest rates meant that Clifford Chance was able to put a bigger slice of debt up for grabs.
Clifford Chance executive partner Philip Palmer told The Lawyer that the extra $50m will allow the firm to pay down a greater chunk of the £150m revolving loan it borrowed in January last year.
As the firm has no individual partner capital, the placement provides funds to pay for operating expenses, including the firm's move to Canary Wharf, scheduled for this year.
The fixed-rate bond issue, on which Barclays acted as the agent, has been split into two tranches including $105m (£65.5m) of 10-year bonds with a yield of 5.4 per cent and $45m (£28m) of 20-year bonds at a 6.5 per cent yield.
Nomura restructures legal team
Japanese investment bank Nomura International has shaken up its legal department just as European general counsel David Mee leaves for an unknown destination Meanwhile, Tom O’Rior-dan, who left Nomura last July (The Lawyer, 3 June 2002) to join Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, will return to his old post as head of the transactional legal department.As […]