Indonesia’s telecommunications giant Tower Bersama has engaged Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Assegaf Hamzah & Partners in a US$2bn loan debt programme to PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure and its operating companies. Norton Rose and Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners advised the programme coordinators of the transaction.

Abu Dhabi-based law firm Agha & Shamsi will launch a new office relocating founding partner Oliver Agha to Dubai to head up the firm’s new office – to be known as Agha & Co.

Two new legal treaties were signed by the foreign ministers of the 10 nations at the 17th ASEAN summit in Hanoi last week.

Recently merged entity SNR Denton has enticed Clifford Chance US chief operating officer Sally King to switch camps, taking up the role of global chief operating officer, effective from late October 2010.

AZB loses another partner and associates as Sharma joins Khaitan

Herbert Smith Singapore has promoted Lewis McDonald to partnership and hired several associates in a major expansion strategy devised to cope with an influx of energy deals growing from Southeast Asia.

US-based firm K&L Gates has hired veteran capital markets lawyer Brian Wesol for its burgeoning Singapore office.

Midas, a leading manufacturer of aluminium alloy extrusion products, is the first Singapore-listed company to take advantage of an additional channel for capital-raising in Hong Kong. Earlier this year, changes to the HKSE listing rules saw a relaxation of criteria for companies to secondary list on the HKSE – in particular companies from the mining and petroleum sector – an option that few companies have exercised thus far.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has added three new counsels to its Hong Kong practice: Edward Freeman (corporate), Gwen Wong (corporate), and Richard Bird (IP/IT). Freshfields has promoted 11 lawyers globally, effective from 1 Nov 2010. This round of promotions is in addition to the nine lawyers already promoted in May this year.

Clifford Chance has been retained as issuer’s counsel in a breakthrough global notes issue from state-run utility, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA); in the company’s largest dollar-denominated bond sale yet.