Big build: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is advising Skipton Building Society on its proposed merger with Scarborough Building Society, which, if completed, would create a society with 860,000 members and more than £16bn in assets. Completion is expected in early 2009. National firm Addleshaw Goddard is advising Scarborough Building Society.

House swap: City firm SJ Berwin advised property trading and development company CPC Group on acquiring full ownership of a £289m luxury residential scheme in Beverly Hills from Icelandic bank Kaupthing, in exchange for CPC’s interest in London’s £175m Noho Square development – the former Middlesex Hospital site. Both sites had been held in joint ventures by CPC and Kaupthing. London firm Boodle Hatfield advised Kaupthing.

IT advice: Magic circle firm Freshfields advised Siemens on selling its €450m (£362m) stake in Fujitsu Siemens Computers – a joint venture set up in 1999 – to Fujitsu, which was advised by US firm Mayer Brown.

Gone with the wind: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised Scottish and Southern Energy on selling 50% of its interest in Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds to NPower Renewables. The Greater Gabbard wind farm, which will be the world’s largest offshore farm, will cost around £1.3bn to build. South-west firm Bond Pearce advised NPower Renewables.

Pensions and property: City firm Nabarro advised Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund, the property development arm of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, on a £100m joint venture with Argent Projects No 4 Limited Partnership to redevelop Elisabeth House in Manchester city centre. Argent was advised by City firm Lovells.

Striking gold: City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse advised Cyprus-based copper and gold exploration company EMED Mining on its €63m (£51m) acquisition of Spanish copper mine Proyecto Rio Tinto, in a joint venture with metals marketing and trading company MRI Group, which was advised by City firm Watson, Farley & Williams. In another deal, Field Fisher Waterhouse advised broker Mirabaud Securities on African Minerals’s £20m fundraising on AIM. City firm Clyde & Co advised African Minerals.