Davis Polk advised Goldman, Sachs Lending Partners LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., and RBC Capital Markets as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, and KKR Capital Markets LLC, MCS Capital Markets LLC and Blackstone Holdings Finance Co.
White & Case LLP has advised a syndicate of banks led by Banca IMI S.p.A., as agent, and Banca IMI S.p.A., Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. and UniCredit S.p.A. as arrangers and bookrunners, on a €130 million term and revolving credit facility for Esprinet S.p.A.
Esprinet is a wholesale distributor of IT and consumer electronics that operates in Italy and Spain, serving around 40,000 reseller clients and supplying 600 brands.
The Firm represented the initial purchasers and the lenders, led by Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The Firm recently represented RBC Capital Markets and JPMorgan Chase in connection with credit facilities relating to Sinclair Television Group, Inc.’s. $985.0 million acquisition of certain television station assets from Allbritton Communication Co.
Sinclair Television is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. and is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the United States.
Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Tank & Rast group (“Tank & Rast”), a leading provider of German autobahn service stations, on the repricing of its senior facilities.
WFW previously advised Tank & Rast on the refinancing of its external financial debt in December 2013.
The WFW team was led by Frankfurt-based partner Dr. Torsten Rosenboom (Corporate). He was supported by partner Sven Fretthold (Banking & Finance, Hamburg) as well as associate Sebastian Ens (Corporate, Frankfurt).
Mayer Brown advised BHF-BANK AG on the financing of the acquisition of lichtbasis meissner-spahn gmbh (lichtbasis) by Finatem Beteiligungsgesellschaft. Established in 2000, lichtbasis is one of Europe’s leading wholesalers for lighting technology. The acquisition was made as a primary leveraged and owner buyout with management retaining a 25% stake. The transaction volume was not disclosed. It was the first time for Mayer Brown to advise BHF on the financing of a leveraged acquisition.
Slaughter and May advised Ultra Electronics, a world leading group of businesses operating in the defence, aerospace, security, transport and energy markets, in relation to the refinancing of its existing revolving credit facility with a new five-year £200 million revolving credit facility. This refinancing was announced on 4 August 2014.
CONTACTS
Financing: Matthew Tobin (partner), Hiba Siddique (associate); Tax: Gareth Miles (partner), Charles Osborne (associate)
Davis Polk advised Credit Suisse AG, as administrative and collateral agent for the first-lien facility, and Bank of America, N.A, as administrative and collateral agent for the second-lien facility, in connection with the senior secured facilities provided to Solenis International L.P. and Solenis Holdings 3 LLC, acquisition subsidiaries of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), to finance CD&R’s acquisition of the Water Technologies division of Ashland Inc.
Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the Joyou group in connection with a USD300m loan facility agreement (approximately €223.4m) arranged by a consortium of Japanese banks consisting of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Bank.
The loan facility agreement was provided under English law. The borrower is the Joyou group company Hong Kong Zhongyu Sanitary Technology based in Hong Kong. Guarantors are the German parent company of the group, Joyou AG, and Chinese subsidiaries.
International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges is advising Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and ING on the financing of EQT’s acquisition of Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing (BvD) from Charterhouse Capital Partners. BvD is a leading publisher of private company information and corporate ownership structures, and is known for products such as Orbis, Bankscope, Amadeus, Mint and Zephyr.