Norton Rose Fulbright

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has topped the mergermarket value league table of international law firms that advised on M&A deals in the record 2016 calendar year.

Norton Rose disputes of counsel Sherina Petit has been promoted to partnership at Norton Rose’s London office.

AZB & Partners and Norton Rose’s African merger partner have advised India’s Essar Group on its majority stake take-over of Zimbabwe’s state-owned steel unit Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) for $750m.

Norton Rose has failed to secure a work permit for one of its future trainees and has had to turn away a handful of Indian interns as the legal sector continues to grapple with the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) points-based work permit system.

Norton Rose has advised Australian miner Linc on its sale a $3bn coal tenement in Queensland to a subsidiary of the Adani Group, which was advised by Australian firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Start-up firm Axon Partners LLP has advised Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services on its $75m convertible bond issue with Norton Rose's Singapore office getting into the capital markets game by advising the deal's London underwriters Jefferies International.

Bharucha & Partners with Norton Rose and Talwar Thakore & Associates (TTA) with best friend Linklaters are advising HSBC on its takeover of the Indian retail and commercial banking business of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for a premium of Rs 444 crore ($95m) over the net asset value of the business.