Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is acting for Japanese trading company Marubeni Corp. on its $5.6 billion acquisition of Gavilon Group, an Omaha-based grain trading company. Jones Day is advising Gavilon. The acquisition is the largest-ever for Marubeni, which is aiming to become one of the world’s top grain-trading companies. The Skadden partners leading the deal are Patricia Moran and Sally Thurston in New York and Nobuhisa Ishizuka in Tokyo. The Jones Day team is being led by New York-based partners Robert Kennedy and Nicholas Rodriguez. [Read full story]


Southeast Asia

 
Slaughter and May is advising PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd., a Thai state-owned enterprise, on a $1.9 billion takeover bid for London-based Cove Energy Plc. If successful, the deal will be the largest overseas acquisition by a Thai company ever. Cove focuses on oil and gas exploration in Mozambique and has interests in offshore sites containing enormous volumes of natural gas. Slaughter and May is acting for PTTEP with a team of lawyers led by Hong Kong partners David Watkins and Peter Lake. Cove is being advised by partners Geoff Gouriet and John Reed of London-based Lawrence Graham. To fund the acquisition, PTTEP has secured a $1.5 billion loan from UBS AG., which is being advised by Linklaters. Clifford Chance London partner Timothy Lewis has been advising Shell on its bid for Cove. [Read full story]
 


Hong Kong/China 

 
Clifford Chance and Beijing-based Jingtian & Gongcheng are advising on Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Co. Ltd.’s planned $1.5 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong The listing, if successful, will be one of the largest Hong Kong IPOs so far this year. Advising Yitai Coal on Hong Kong and U.S. law are Clifford Chance Beijing partners Tim Wang and Jean Yu.  Jingtian & Gongcheng is representing the issuer on Chinese law. [Read full story]
 
Baker & McKenzie and Beijing-based Zhong Lun Law Firm have advised Hong Kong-listed Yuexiu Property Co. Ltd. on the $1.4 billion sale of its 103-storey Guangzhou International Finance Center, one of the world’s tallest buildings, to an affiliated real estate investment trust, Yuexiu REIT. The Baker & McKenzie team which advised Yuexiu REIT on Hong Kong law was led by Hong Kong-based corporate partner Dorothea Koo. Zhong Lun advised Yuexiu on Chinese law and Mayer Brown JSM partners Jeckle Chiu and Phillip Smith acted for trustee Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd.
 
Paul Hastings has advised Chinese state-owned investment company China Everbright International Ltd. on the sale of its 80 percent interest in toll-bridge operator Greenway Venture Ltd. to Hong Kong-based TransGlobal (Asia) Holdings Ltd. for $60 million. Greenway operates a 1.2 kilometer toll-bridge in China’s Fujian province that is part of a major north-south expressway. The Paul Hastings team was led by corporate partner Vivian Lam. TransGlobal, which

engages in the construction and operation of freeways and bridges, was advised by Hong Kong firm Ford, Kwan & Co.


Singapore

  
Jones Day has advised Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. on its participation in a consortium making a $1.13 billion investment in Dallas-based deepwater oil exploration company Venari Resources. Jones Day Hong Kong partner Michael Arruda and Singapore partner Dennis Barsky led their firm’s work for Temasek. Venari, which operates mainly in the Gulf of Mexico, was represented by Dallas law firm Thompson Knight. The consortium was led by New York-based investment group Warburg Pincus, which was advised by Vinson & Elkins Houston partners Scott Wulfe, Adam Larson, and Tim Devetski, as well as New York partner Caroline Blitzer. Other consortium members Kelso & Co. and the Jordan Co. were respectively advised by Debevoise & Plimpton and Mayer Brown New York partner Philip Brandes.
 


India

 
Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. has advised mobile telecommunications carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd. on a $165 million acquisition of a 49-percent stake in the Indian assets of U.S. mobile technology company Qualcomm Inc. Jones Day Singapore partner Sushma Jobanputra advised Qualcomm, with partner Ashwin Ramanathan of AZB & Partners acting as Indian counsel. Amarchand’s team included partners Mohan Singh and Shweta Shroff Chopra.
 
British travel services provider Thomas Cook Group has sold its 77 percent stake in its Indian arm, Thomas Cook India, to Toronto-based private equity fund Fairbridge Capital for $150 million. Allen & Overy partner Alistair Asher acted as U.K. counsel to Thomas Cook, while Delhi partner Harsh Pais of Trilegal served as Indian counsel. AZB & Partners Mumbai partner Ashwin Ramanathan acted as Indian legal advisor to Fairbridge Capital while Shearman & Sterling partner Laurence Levy advised Fairbridge on English law.
 


Australia

  
Freehills partner Andrew Rich is advising Talent2 International, a human resources services provider, on its planned $115 million acquisition by Perbec, a vehicle wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan & Banks Investments Pty Ltd. As part of the deal, Perbec will be jointly owned by Morgan & Banks and Allegis Group, Inc.,  an American workforce management company that has been Talent2’s strategic operating partner . Sydney-based Watson Mangioni Lawyers is acting for Morgan & Banks and DLA Piper is acting for Allegis Group.