M&A and private equity expert Marcia Ellis has rejoined Morrison & Foerster at its Hong Kong office, after leaving the firm in 2008 to become the Asia chief legal officer at the D. E. Shaw Group.

Ropes & Gray has appointed corporate and capital markets expert Victoria Lloyd as a partner at its Hong Kong office.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bolstered its dispute resolution group with the hire of partner Tim Mak from Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong.

Shearman & Sterling has advised CNPC General Capital, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, on its issuance of $2 billion worth of notes.

DLA Piper has advised Chinese pharmaceutical product distributor Sinopharm Group Co on its HK$4 billion ($515 million) H-share placement, while Morrison & Foerster represented the placing agents – China International Capital Corp (CICC), UBS and Morgan Stanley.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and Allen & Gledhill have advised Hong Kong’s First Pacific Company, Manila Electric Company and their joint venture vehicle FPM Power Holdings, on the latter’s S$660 million ($537 million) purchase of a 771MW LNG power plant in Singapore.

Sidley Austin has hired energy expert Tom Deegan from Simmons & Simmons as a partner in its Hong Kong office.

Morrison & Foerster has hired capital markets specialist Kenji Taneda as a partner at its Tokyo office.

Clifford Chance has advised China Minmetals Corp on its sale of a 2.5 billion yuan ($402 million) three-year dim sum bond.

China’s recent approval of several infrastructure projects has highlighted its growing intent to boost economic growth through public infrastructure spending. To help raise funds, Beijing also plans to implement sweeping bond market reforms. Large state-owned businesses stand ready to benefit, but risks and concerns remain. Kanishk Verghese reports Additional reporting by Liu Zhen at ALB, and Nick Edwards and Benjamin Kang Lim at Reuters