White & Case LLP has advised a group of Chinese and international banks on facilities of around €1.29 billion for Sailing Investment Co, S.a r.l, wholly-owned by Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotels Development Company Limited, the Shanghai-listed Chinese hospitality management company which is a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Jin Jiang International Holdings Co., Limited.

The facilities support Jin Jiang International's €1.29 billion acquisition of Europe's second largest hotel chain, Groupe de Louvre (Louvre Hotels Group), from Starwood Capital.

"We are very pleased with the successful completion of this complex financing for our clients and the company," said Beijing-based White & Case partner David Li, who led the team which advised on the deal. "This financing is a good example of a carefully structured credit that maximises optionality for banks and the company."

This significant transaction is one of the largest outbound acquisition financings for a Chinese state-owned enterprise in the hospitality real estate sector, and the Louvre acquisition is the latest in a string of hotel deals involving Chinese companies.

White & Case advised Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (Shanghai Branch) as global coordinator, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (Shanghai Branch), Bank of China Limited (Shanghai Branch), HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited (Shanghai Branch), Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, BNP Paribas (Hong Kong Branch), Société Générale (Hong Kong Branch) and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank as mandated lead arrangers, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) S.A. (Paris Branch) as agent, Bank of China Limited (Paris Branch) as security agent, and a group of lenders and issuing banks comprising international and Chinese affiliates of the mandated lead arrangers.

The cross-border, multi-office White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partner David Li (Beijing) and included partners Baldwin Cheng (Hong Kong) and Victoria Westcott (Paris) with support from senior legal consultant Frank Shu (Shanghai) and associates Tianren Liu, June Chun (both Beijing), Isabelle Renaudie, Florent Rigaud and Charlene Ntsiba (all Paris).

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