Gernandt & Danielsson advises in 4finance’s issue of corporate bonds amounting to SEK 150 million

The consumer credit provider group 4finance has, through the Luxembourg incorporated company 4finance S.A., issued Swedish corporate bonds amounting to SEK 150 million through a private placement. The bonds have been issued within a framework amount of SEK 600 million, of which the company previously has issued SEK 225 million. The bond loan is already admitted to trading on the Corporate Bond List at Nasdaq Stockholm.

We advised the guarantor, Citycon Oyj, in the issue and listing of a EUR 300 million guaranteed eurobond as to Finnish law. The issuer of the bond is Citycon Treasury B.V. and it was listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. The bond matures in seven years and carries fixed annual interest at the rate of 2.375 per cent.

Our team of advisers was headed by partner Janne Lauha and included counsel Mikko Heinonen and associates Thomas Landell and Karlo Siirala.

Dentons’ Baku office advised EIB on a €50 million loan to the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the largest bank in Azerbaijan, to finance projects promoted by SMEs and midcaps. The loan corresponds to the objectives of the EIB’s mandate for lending outside the EU, which focuses on the development of the local private sector, in particular support to SMEs, social and economic infrastructure and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Travers Smith Head of Listed Funds  Aaron Stocks and associate Stuart MacKenzie have advised Liberum Capital Limited and Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, in their capacity as underwriters and joint sponsors to Assura plc, in connection with the leading UK healthcare REIT’s £309 million firm placing, placing and open offer and offer for subscription of new ordinary shares.

Charles Casassa, Head of our US securities team, advised on US aspects of the transaction with Brent Sanders.

Shoosmiths acted for the management team of Milton Keynes based business Compello Holdings Limited ('Compello') in the £113m sale to Hoist Finance (UK) Limited in July 2015.

Compello, which has been providing collection services since 2003, and became a debt purchaser in 2010, held a portfolio of more than one million agreements at the time of acquisition.

Slaughter and May is advising Legal & General in connection with the regeneration of Central Square, Cardiff. 

Legal & General has entered into an agreement with Rightacres Property Co. Limited, a Cardiff-based developer, to deliver the City of Cardiff Council’s Central Square. The transaction includes the acquisition of a 135,000 sq ft office development known as One Central Square. The building is part pre-let to national law firm Blake Morgan LLP.

Ashurst advised UniCredit Bank AG (UniCredit) on the granting of a €75 million syndicated loan to Rothenberger AG (Rothenberger), a world leader in pipe tools and machines. UniCredit acts as co-ordinator, arranger and bookrunner of the loan. The loan serves among other things to refinance an existing framework credit line in the amount of €44 million. Besides UniCredit, Commerzbank AG, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG, Frankfurter Sparkasse as well as Baden-Württembergische Bank act as further syndicate banks.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC), the world's largest bank by assets, on a Rule 144A/Regulation S issue of US$2 billion Tier 2 capital notes.

The 4.875 per cent Tier 2 capital notes due 2025 will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.  ICBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, HSBC and UBS were joint lead managers and joint bookrunners to the issue.

Beijing partner Tom Chau advised ICBC, assisted by counsel Zhong Wang and senior associate Isaac Chen.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Deutsche Bank, Danske Bank and EKF, the export credit agency of Denmark, in relation to a new 40MW biomass facility at Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside.

The project was originally developed by Eco2 and Temporis Capital and was acquired by Glennmont Partners immediately prior to the financing taking effect. Deutsche Bank and Danske Bank are providing the long term senior debt for the £160m project, with a partial risk cover from EKF.

Schoenherr advised an international banking consortium comprising Commerzbank Ak-tiengesellschaft (technical lead), Barclays Bank plc, Crédit Agricole CIB and CaixaBank SA as Joint Lead Managers on the successful issuance of a EUR 500 million fixed-rate mortgage covered bond (Pfandbrief) by Vienna-based Erste Group Bank AG (closing date: 9 September 2015). The bond was placed with institutional investors and listed on the Second Regulated Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange.