Search results for

French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel is to lose four lawyers to the Linklaters & Paines Paris office. The lawyers are part of Gide's mergers and acquisitions and litigation team. Their arrivals will double Linklaters' total of corporate partners, bringing it up to eight. Gide partners Thierry Vassogne, Marc Loy and Olivier Diaz and senior associate Arnaud de la Cotardiere will all become partners at Linklaters, with Vassogne becoming co-head of the Paris office alongside Jean-Marc Lefevre. Vassogne, a high profile litigator will no doubt be missed by the firm, despite what Xavier de Roux, Gide Loyrette Nouel partner describes as "conflicts of interests and difficulties between partners" in the firm's M&A department. He says: "Thierry Vassogne has been with the firm for twenty years and of course we all like him, but our M&A department has more than fourteen partners, and this is something which happens in law firms. We have had seven partners leave in thirty years."

Allen & Overy is gaining an office in Bangkok as a result of its merger with local firm MPS & Associates. The firm already has regional offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore & Tokyo. MPS & Associates is a 18 lawyer corporate firm, working with international as well as domestic clients. It is well regarded for its banking and capital markets work. The three existing partners of MPS & Associates – Pises Sethsathira, Simon Makinson and Surapon Satimanont – will become partners in Allen & Overy on November 1.

Richard Parolai and Michael Elland-Goldsmith of Clifford Chance, Paris, advisers to CSFB

Opportunities exist within the Arabian Gulf states for equity investment in large projects. But the creation of bankable project structures requires effective security over project assets. By Martin Amison of Trowers & Hamlins, London

Paris electronics company Framatome Connectors is buying its US competitor Berg Electronics, St Louis, for $1.85 billion. The deal will make Framatome the second–largest manufacturer of electronic connectors. Framatome will pay cash for Berg's shares and will also assume $400 million of debt. Framatome is being advised by New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. The partners assisting on the transaction are John McCarthy Jr (corporate), Winthrop Conrad Jr (corporate), Paul Kingsley (corporate) and Patrick Bradford (antitrust).

UK firms Denton Hall, Richards Butler and Theodore Goddard are engaged in talks regarding a possible tripartite merger. If successful, the merger would produce the seventh largest law firm by lawyers based in the UK, and would have offices in 17 jurisdictions. Negotiations began in August and remain at an early stage of development. However, a plan for the merger may be put to partners by the end of the year. The new firm would have a significant global presence. Richards Butler has offices in Paris, Brussels, Piraeus, Warsaw, Beijing, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Oman, Islamabad, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The firm is also considering opening an office in Azerbaijan, where the new oil industry has stimulated foreign investment. Denton Hall has offices in Brussels, Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and New York. Theodore Goddard has an office in Brussels and associate offices in Paris and Jersey.

Simmons & Simmons, London is representing First Active, due to be listed on the London and Dublin stock exchanges in early October. First National Building Society became First Active, a public limited company, in preparation for the share issue. The price range prospectus gives First Active a potential market capitalization of between IR£387 and IR£510 million ($552-$718 million). Simmons & Simmons is representing First Active in the UK. The team is led by partner William Charnley, head of corporate finance. He is assisted by partners Alan Karter (corporate) and Nick Cronkshaw (tax).

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced measures to relax the restrictions on the use of the Singapore dollar while adhering to its basic policy of not encouraging the internationalization of the Singapore dollar.

The Czech subsidiary of Slovak electrical company Slovenske elektrarne has issued Kr3 billion bonds (US$97.6 million). This is the first ever bond issue by a foreign issuer to be fully documented in and solely designed for the Czech Republic. The lead underwriter in the deal was ING Barings Capital Markets advised by US firm White & Case, Prague. Lead partner Ivan Cestr (primary issues/securities) was assisted by associates Kvetoslav Krejci and Josef Otcenasek.

President Jiang Zemin's recent call for restraint of the People's Liberation Army's widespread business activities is only part of a greater campaign to separate government and business in China. In the areas of tax and finance, two events highlight this tendency: