The awards were announced online today as, exceptionally this year, the traditional annual ceremony due to be organised in London, couldn’t be held because of the coronavirus sanitary measures.
In the winning deal, Loyens & Loeff acted for Goldman Sachs Bank USA, as part of a syndicate of banks (including BoAML, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Natwest, Nomura and RBC) as legal advisers on a $ 3.257bln financing for Bain Capital’s acquisition of a majority stake in Kantar from the British multinational advertising and public relations firm WPP. The financing was a mixture of dollar- and euro-denominated leveraged loans and high yield bonds.
The $ 3bln financing was composed of
- a € 1.475bln notes offering consisting of (i) € 1bln 5.750% senior secured notes due 2026 and (ii) € 475mln 9.250% senior notes due 2027, issued by Luxembourg private limited liability companies, and
- approximatively $ 1.782bln senior facilities.
The notes were secured by post-closing security granted by, inter alia, Luxembourg companies of the group.
Our Banking & Finance led by Anne-Marie Nicolas advised Goldman Sachs in this transaction. She was assisted by Marko Huskic (Associate).
The annual IFLR Europe awards celebrate legally innovative cross-border transactions in the region. IFLR1000 shortlisted Loyens & Loeff for seven awards at the 2020 edition. The shortlist is based on preliminary research conducted by IFLR that included direct written nominations and interviews with law firm partners, in-house teams and clients.
