WSG would like to congratulate those member firms that received honors at the 2007 Chambers Global Awards held in London on November 8th. Garrigues, WSG member firm for Spain was awarded Iberian Law Firm of the Year and A&L Goodbody, WSG member firm for Ireland received the Irish Law Firm of the Year award. Minter Ellison, WSG member firm for Australia was runner-up for the Australian Law Firm of the Year. ...

Webber Wentzel Bowens (WWB), one of South Africa’s leading corporate law firms, will merge with Cape Town-based law firm Mallinicks to create one of the largest legal firms in South Africa. The combined firm will start operating from the 1st of March 2008 with over 110 partners and 300 lawyers in total. ...

Deacons Financial Services Practice Group recently assisted an international fund manager in obtaining SFC approval for the first retail 130/30 fund to be authorized in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, SFC authorization of the first 130/30 product is another example of the SFC’s pragmatic, flexible and market responsive regulatory approach and this may serve to attract other retail funds with similar strategies to Hong Kong. However, it remains to be seen how regulators will view these other variations of long/short funds and where the boundaries will eventually be drawn. ...

David Chuang, Victor Chang and Mark Harty are listed in the 2007 edition of AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers, published by Asia Law & Practice. David Chuang is recognized for his work in Securitization & Structured Finance. Victor Chang is listed in recognition for his work in Mergers & Acquisitions. Also listed is Mark Harty who is recognized for his work in Banking, Venture Capital & Private Equity, Project Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions. ...

The group turnover of Hannes Snellman totaled million EUR (up 38.9%) in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2007. The profit after tax amounted to 15.7 million EUR (up 68.5%). strong growth in the fiscal year makes Hannes Snellman one of the fastest growing top law firms on a Nordic level. ...

The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) gave its clearance to News Corporation to obtain sole control over Dow Jones. Borislav Boyanov & Co. represented News Corporation during the merger clearance process. According to the press statement of the CPC Dow Jones, presence on the Bulgarian market is de minimis; therefore, the concentration will not influence the market shares of the two companies. ...

Shevchenko Didkovskiy & Partners became the first Ukrainian law firm to receive the International Law Office (ILO) Client Choice Award being selected among 1,300 law firms in 44 jurisdictions. Oleksiy Didkovskiy, Managing Partner, commented "It is an honor to win ILO's International Law Firm Award and become the first Ukrainian law firm to receive such kind of recognition. We feel fairly rewarded for investing time and efforts in maintaining highest standards of legal services, building closer relations with our clients, understanding their businesses, their goals, and their people. We are very thankful to all our clients and partners as well as the entire team of our firm for contributing to this success." ...

Misick & Stanbrook client The O Property Collection has announced that it has finalized an agreement with Mandarin Oriental Hotels to manage its hotel, residence and villa development on Dellis Cay. This major project, the largest of its type to date in Turks & Caicos Islands, will consist of a resort hotel (to open in 2009), island residences, beach villas, over-water villas, a spa and botanical gardens with a marina and additional amenities to follow in later stages. Misick & Stanbrook partner, Owen Foley (Turks & Caicos Islands) and Joshua Stein of Latham & Watkins (USA) led The O Property Collection’s legal team on the Mandarin transaction. ...

San Martin, Suarez y Asociados (SMS), a firm specialized in auditing, consulting and tax advisory services has been selected by the Argentinean Marketing Association to audit the Mercurio Awards 2007. Every year, a jury composed by relevant personalities of the activity, evaluate different cases, this evaluation is controlled by an external auditing firm. This year, the firm in charge of ensuring a clear election and the confidentiality of the winners will be SMS. ...

WSG would like to congratulate Jorge Carey, Senior Partner of Carey & Cía, member for Chile, on being awarded the Chambers Global Lifetime Achievement Award. He received his award at a ceremony held in London on November 8, 2007. ...

Canadian Royalties Inc. recently announced the closing of a $75 million treasury offering of 27,300,000 common shares at the price of $2.75 per share. This financing marks the transition from exploration to development. The funds raised will be used for the procurement of the equipment necessary to carry out the corporation’s Nunavik Nickel Project located near Xstrata Nickel’s Raglan Mine in Nunavik, Quebec. Michel Blouin, Sébastien Vézina and Benoît Mallette advised Canadian Royalties in this financing. ...

Bob Tata and Carl Gray of Hunton & Williams won a $60 million bid protest for ship repair client Earl Industries. By a written decision the issued November 5, 2007, the details of which are under a protective order, U.S. General Accountability Office ruled in favor of Earl Industries, LLC in its protest of the Navy's award of a $60 million, multi-ship multi-year contract for the repair and maintenance of the Navy's FFG-7 Class Frigates at Naval Station Mayport, Florida. ...