Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been instructed by South African company MTN Group to advise on its merger with mobile operator Bharti Airtel. Freshfields partner Bruce Embley advised MTN on the deal, which could see the company acquire a 36 per cent interest in Bharti, with Bharti acquiring a 49 per cent shareholding in MTN. Bharti […]
THE HONG Kong arm of Reed Smith has advised on one of the largest Asian IPOs this year, winning an instruction from China Zhongwang Holdings on its $1.3bn (£800m) listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Richards Butler, in association with Reed Smith – which had been the Hong Kong arm of the UK’s Richards […]
DAVENPORT Lyons has won a Court of Appeal victory for satirical magazine Private Eye against Irwin Mitchell that could result in complaints made against law firms being made available to the public. Irwin Mitchell instructed Carter Ruck to seek a ruling that would prevent Private Eye from publishing details of a complaint made against the […]
BMI BRITISH Midland chairman Sir Michael Bishop has drafted in Linklaters to try to force rival airline Lufthansa to complete its planned takeover of the company. Bishop is attempting to enforce a contract requiring the German airline to buy his majority stake in BMI, calling on Linklaters corporate partner Matthew Middleditch. But Lufthansa, represented by longstanding adviser […]
Linklaters disputes partner Mark Humphries is to leave the firm to launch his own litigation boutique in Bristol. The niche firm, which will be known as Mark Humphries, will also offer advocacy services. Humphries, who is acting for energy giant Centrica on its £182m claim against consultancy group Accenture, resigned from Linklaters in 2008 but […]
LINKLATERS has closed the gap on Slaughter and May at the top of the FTSE100 adviser rankings. The figures, by financial information provider Hemscott, rank law firms by the number of listed clients. In the quarterly rankings top-placed Slaughters has lost two top 100 companies from its roster of 27. Since February longstanding clients 3i and […]
TIMES Newspapers has hired Finers Stephens Innocent senior associate Pia Sarma as its head of litigation to replace Gillian Phillips, who left for The Guardian earlier this year. Phillips was hired as head of Guardian News and Media’s legal team in January after incumbent Nuala Cosgrove left to join media regulator Ofcom. Sarma will join […]
SPANISH bank Santander has merged the legal teams of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester (A&L) after announcing plans to ditch the two historic high street brands next year. Santander Group bought A&L for £1.3bn last year and has owned Abbey since 2004. Lawyers from both banks work under former Abbey legal chief Karen Fortunato, who […]
Law firms will play a pivotal role in delivering Olympic village success. News that the £1.1bn Olympic village would be fully nationalised after private sector interest in the scheme dried up has been largely overlooked, with the furore over MPs’ expenses continuing to take up most of the headlines. But the fact that £324m of […]
Executive remuneration and the cash bonus have become one of the hot topics of this recession. Huge payments to staff at financial institutions have lent themselves to headlines and sweepingly critical perceptions of the banking industry. The public consensus is that bonuses awarded to bankers were a key factor in causing the current crisis, encouraging […]
Quadrant Chambers has appointed its first chief executive to drive through the expansion of the set. Tim Gerrard joins Quadrant from Jersey-based trust manager Hawksford International, where he worked as chief operating officer following its management buyout last October. It comes as the set reported a 33 per cent increase in turnover, from £15.8m at the 2007-08 year-end to […]
DLA Piper has hired Clifford Chance insurance litigation partner John Curran in a bid to expand its insurance litigation practice in London. The practice currently comprises partners Charles Gordon and David Murphy, under global head of litigation Neil Gerrard. Curran had been a partner at Clifford Chance since 2000, acting on the insurance aspects of the Ministry of […]