Liquid deal: City firms CMS Cameron McKenna and Field Fisher Waterhouse advised Luminar Group Holdings, the UK’s largest operator of licensed late-night venues, on a corporate reorganisation and the subsequent sale of 26 bars to Cavendish Bars, advised by City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.


Mongolian deal: City firm Norton Rose advised oil exploration group Petro Matad Limited on its admission to the Alternative Investment Market, making it the first Mongolian company to have its shares traded on the London Stock Exchange.



Capital deal: City firm Herbert Smith advised UK mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley on its proposal to raise £300m capital with a rights issue. The bank will primarily use the funds raised to strengthen its capital position. The rights issue was underwritten by Citi and UBS, both advised by magic circle firm Freshfields.



Middle East deal: The Dubai office of magic circle firm Clifford Chance and the Doha office of national firm Eversheds advised Qatar-based Almana Group, a group of companies providing services across a number of industry sectors, on the issue of AED 600 million (£84 million) of Sukuk certificates (Islamic bonds) listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange. Gulf International Bank was advised by the Dubai office of City firm Lovells.



Exchange deal: The London office of New York firm Shearman & Sterling advised Intercontinental Exchange on gaining recognition from the Financial Services Authority for its ICE Clear Europe clearing house, as well as gaining recognition for ICE Futures US and ICE Clear US as an overseas investment exchange and overseas clearing house respectively.



Real deal: The Dubai office of US firm Vinson & Elkins represented Al-Futtaim Capital in closing its Al-Futtaim MENA Real Estate Development Fund and its Al-Futtaim MENA Real Estate Shari’a Development Fund, worth around £250 million combined. The capital will be invested primarily in large-scale urban mixed-use developments in MENA cities such as Abu Dhabi, Doha, Casablanca and Cairo.



Network deal: The Delhi office of Indian firm FoxMandal Little advised US-French telecoms equipment provider Alcatel-Lucent on a £200 million joint venture with Reliance Communications – advised by its in-house team – to provide network services to various telecoms operators.