As reported by the Financial Times, Countrywide plc completed its listing on the London Stock Exchange and closed its initial public offering. Countrywide was a portfolio company owned by Oaktree, Apollo and Alchemy. The company is the largest real estate agency in the United Kingdom. The transaction received a significant amount of press coverage in London, in large part because the Countrywide IPO is one of the first IPOs in London in over a year, the offering priced at the top of the range and interest in the company demonstrated renewed confidence in the UK real estate sector and by extension the UK economy.

Paul, Weiss client Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd completed an offering of $750 million of subordinated contingent write-off loan notes with a scheduled maturity in 2024. The loan notes can be permanently written down to zero, and investors lose their principal if the solvency ratio of Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd falls below a predetermined threshold. The loan notes were issued through a so-called "repackaging vehicle." The offering was Regulation S only.   

Paul, Weiss client General Atlantic entered into an agreement to acquire a significant minority interest in Yemeksepeti.com, the leading online food ordering service in Turkey and the Middle East. Yemeksepeti.com has 1.5 million registered users and covers over 6,500 restaurants, including both independents and chains such as Burger King, Domino's Pizza, KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut.

Our client Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd completed an offering of €500 million of subordinated fixed-to-floating rate callable loan notes with a scheduled maturity in 2042.  The loan notes were issued through a so-called "repackaging vehicle." The offering follows Swiss Re's offerings of CHF 320 million and $750 million perpetual subordinated notes, which closed in February and March, respectively. Compared to the prior issuances, which have a novel stock settlement feature under which holders will receive listed shares of Swiss Re Ltd, the parent company of the Swiss Re Group, in settlement for the notes, at the option of the issuer, this offering is a more standard 30-year/non-call 10 year issuance.  Euroweek has quoted positive market appraisals of the transaction. 

Time Warner Cable Inc. closed a £650,000,000 (approximately U.S. $1 billion) registered offering of 5 1/4% notes due 2042. The notes were offered in the United Kingdom. In connection with the notes offering, the company entered into cross-currency swaps to effectively convert its £650 million aggregate principal amount of fixed-rate British pound sterling denominated debt to fixed-rate U.S. dollar denominated debt. The bookrunning managers for the transaction were Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

Paul, Weiss advised Citigroup in connection with its sale, through an equity offering, of 404 million shares of Akbank T.A.S., a Turkey-based private bank, for estimated aggregate proceeds of $1.15 billion. The sale reduced Citigroup's strategic stake in Akbank to 9.9 percent, generating approximately 23 basis points of Tier 1 capital under the Basel III capital rules. The offering was completed May 25.

Paul, Weiss advised Electricite de France, S.A. (EdF) in connection with its agreement with A2A S.p.A. and Delmi S.p.A. to acquire the 50% interest in Transalpina di Energia S.r.l, a company holding 61.3% of Edison S.p.A.'s voting shares not already owned by EdF, for €704 million plus the pro rata assumption of approximately €512 million in debt.

On March 29 our client Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd completed an offering of $750 million of perpetual subordinated capital instruments. The Swiss Re offering has attracted significant commentary, with EuroWeek noting the "unique structure" and that "[Swiss Re] has set out with the aim of . . . leading the market in new-style insurance hybrids." While the Swiss franc notes were sold in the Swiss market only, the dollar-denominated instruments were sold principally to Asian private banking accounts and European institutional accounts.

In spite of difficult market conditions in Europe, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd completed an offering of CHF 320 million of perpetual subordinated notes, and Cable & Wireless Communications Plc closed an offering of $400 million aggregate principal amount of 8.75% senior secured notes due 2020.

As reported in Market Watch, Paul, Weiss client Ericsson announced on January 12, the acquisition of Telcordia Technologies from Warburg Pincus and Providence Equity Partners, LLC for $1.15 billion. The acquisition is expected to boost Ericsson's expansion of its North American business, particularly in managed services for some of its existing large customers. The deal was an all cash transaction, on a cash and debt-free basis.