Davis Polk & Wardwell

Suzanna Ring sizes up Davis Polk & Wardwell’s prospects as the US leader makes its English law debut in the City…

Wall Street leader Davis Polk & Wardwell has launched an English law practice in the City with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate veteran Simon Witty. Witty is set to join the US law firm’s London arm in April this year. It is not yet known whether he is bringing any associates with him.

Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have advised on a billion-dollar dual initial public offering (IPO) for China’s third-largest life insurance company. New China Life Insurance expects to raise $1.9bn (£1.2bn) through the dual listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges. The headline deal was announced 2 December with the shares going live on the exchanges today (15 December). The deal saw Freshfields acting for the Chinese insurance giant, while Slaughters advised the underwriter consortium. The key banks underwriting the deal included China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited (CICC), UBS and Goldman Sachs, with Slaughters’ team led by Hong Kong corporate partner Benita Yu. Sullivan & Cromwell advised the banks on US law aspects of the deal led by Wei Chun, while King & Wood took the PRC law advisory role on the deal, led by Yang Xiaolei. On the issuer side, Freshfields floated a team led by capital markets partner Teresa Ko. Wall Street firm Davis Polk & Wardwell took the US law role, led by He Li and Chinese law firm Commerce & Finance advised on PRC law led by Wu Gang. PRC-based New China Life Insurance provides a broad range of life insurance products and services to individual and institutional customers. The company was the third-ranked life insurance company in the PRC in terms of gross premium income last year.

Suzanna Ring sizes up Davis Polk & Wardwell’s prospects as the US leader makes its English law debut in the City…

Wall Street leader Davis Polk & Wardwell has launched an English law practice in the City with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate veteran Simon Witty. Witty is set to join the US law firm’s London arm in April this year. It is not yet known whether he is bringing any associates with him.

Davis Polk & Wardwell has become the latest firm to announce US associate bonuses, with the firm opting to match rates first set by Wall Street rival Cravath Swaine & Moore last month, writes The Am Law Daily. Like Cravath, Davis Polk’s bonus scale starts at $7,500 (£4,800) for those in the class of 2010 and increases incrementally to $37,500 (£24,200) for the class of 2004, according to an announcement sent out to the firm’s associates on Monday (12 December).

Davis Polk & Wardwell has moved to strengthen its Paris office with the hires of US rival Shearman & Sterling’s local corporate and antitrust practices. Corporate partner Jacques Naquet-Radiguet, who was also the deputy managing partner of Shearman’s Paris office, joined Davis Polk as a partner on Monday (16 May), after leaving Shearman last week.

Davis Polk & Wardwell has hired two partners from Mayer Brown, as the New York firm gears up to launch in Brazil. Banking and finance partners James Vickers and Stephen Hood are set to join Davis Polk in the coming months to help launch the firm’s Sao Paulo office, with the departures leaving Mayer Brown with just one partner in Brazil, securities lawyer Ricardo Gonzalez.

Davis Polk & Wardwell has won the lead role on a $43.7bn (£21.9bn) biotech takeover bid, as Swiss healthcare group Roche offers to buy the remaining shares in US biotech company Genentech. Roche already owns 55.9% on Genentech, and the deal to purchase the remaining 44.1% would form the seventh-largest drug maker in the US, with sales of $15bn (£7.5bn) in the country, according to Roche.

Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardwell have taken lead roles on BG Group’s inaugural debt offering into the US, with a $1bn (£640m) notes offer. Sullivan advised BG Energy Capital on the deal, which marks the New York firm’s first mandate for the company. The firm advised on both English and US law, fielding a team led by London co-managing partner Vanessa Blackmore and corporate partner Bill Plapinger.

Uria Menendez has taken the lead role for Spanish banking conglomerate Bankia on its €3bn (£2.6bn) initial public offering (IPO). The IPO, reportedly Spain’s third-largest of all time, saw 824 million new shares made available at €3.75 per share, with trading on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges kicking off on 20 July.

Allen & Overy (A&O) has topped Thomson Reuters’ EMEA debt capital markets rankings for the first quarter of the 2011 calendar year by manager, with US firm Sidley Austin topping the equivalent table by issuer. A&O was the most active adviser to managers on international bond issues, advising underwriters on 129 deals generating proceeds of $92.8bn (£56bn). The tally gave the firm a 7% share of the market by volume, ahead of Linklaters, Clifford Chance (CC), Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have taken lead roles on the €1.5bn (£1.3bn) initial public offering (IPO) of Danish jewellery maker Pandora. Davis Polk advised the jewellery company on its listing, fielding a team led by London corporate partner John Meade. Latham, meanwhile, advised the financial sponsors on the deal, which completed earlier this month on Copenhagen’s NASDAQ OMX exchange.