Watson, Farley & Williams in association with Lau, Leong & Co has advised Nordea Bank Norge ASA as Facility Agent for a syndicate of 14 lenders on the provision of a US$866,070,430 facility to the BW Group to refinance eight LNG carriers and for general working capital purposes.

Nordea Bank Norge ASA is part of the largest financial services group in Northern Europe and is active in the shipping and offshore arenas, and the syndicate members comprised leading banks across Europe and Asia.

Ashurst has advised Bank of Ireland and DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main (DZ BANK) on the financing of the acquisition of the Competence Call Center Group (CCC) by Silverfleet Capital GmbH. The provider of the call center services was sold by AXA Private Equity. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price and other details of the transaction.

CCC employs over 4,500 staff in Vienna, Bratislava, Bucharest, Dresden, Essen, Istanbul, Leipzig, Paris and Zurich.

Ashurst has advised RBS on its £30 million funding to South Yorkshire based Norton Finance, which will be used to refinance its existing debt and support its continued expansion plans. Norton Finance specialises in broking, first and second mortgage lending and debt management services.

Ashurst has advised Odewald KMU Gesellschaft für Beteiligungen mbH on financing the acquisition of Domilens Beteiligungs GmbH via its portfolio company Polytech. The seller is the leading investment company BPE.

Both companies profit from the merger, since both Domilens GmbH and Polytech are companies with strong brands and complementary product ranges. As a result of this transaction, Domilens GmbH and the Polytech Group will become the largest manufacturer-independent traders and service providers in the field of eye surgery in Europe.

Norton Rose Fulbright represented The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. ("BTMU") in a $33.1 million loan to a subsidiary of Fiera Axium Infrastructure US L.P.

The loan allowed Fiera Axium Infrastructure to acquire a 49% equity interest in the Wheat Field Wind Farm, a 97 MW wind farm owned by EDP Renewables North America LLC.

Ashurst has advised BayernLB and Commerzbank AG on the financing of the acquisition of the Schülerhilfe group by private equity firm Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG). The seller is Paragon Partners.

The Ashurst team was led by finance partner Dr Bernd Egbers. He was supported by senior associate Carsten Endres, associate Thomas Freund and paralegal Anna Zoth (all Munich). Frankfurt-based partner Heiko Penndorf advised on tax aspects of the financing.

Ashurst has advised EnQuest on a new US$1.7 billion credit facility, underwritten by BNP Paribas and Scotiabank. The facility comprises a committed amount of US$1.2 billion for six years. A further US$500 million is available with the lenders' consent and additional reserves. The facility is to be used for general purposes and replaces the existing facility put in place in Q1 2012.

The Ashurst team was led by oil and gas structured finance partner Huw Thomas, assisted by senior associate Nicholas Ross-McCall and associate Nicholas Szmigin.

The Firm represented JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and the Bank of Montreal in connection with $1.35 billion of committed financing to Darling International Inc. (NYSE: DAR) in its completed acquisition of Rothsay, the rendering and biodiesel division of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., for CAD $645 million.

The Firm is also representing Goldman Sachs Bank USA, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Bank of Montreal in an additional $2.5 billion of committed financing to Darling for its announced acquisition of Vion Ingredients, a division of Vion Holding N.V. for €1.6 billion in cash.

We have advised PNC Business Credit (PNC) on the provision of an asset-based lending facility to support the £15.9 million management buyout of wine retailer, Virgin Wines.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised a syndicate of thirteen banks in relation to unsecured US$1.159 billion and AED 1.609 billion syndicated facilities for Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC (MAF). The bank group comprised of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, First Gulf Bank PJSC, Barclays Bank PLC, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, Mashreqbank PSC, Doha Bank, Union National Bank PJSC, National Bank of Kuwait - Dubai Branch, Arab Bank PLC and Samba Financial Group, Dubai Branch.