Ashurst has advised HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds Bank plc, M&G Investments, Rabobank International, London Branch and Santander UK plc as senior arrangers on the refinancing of Caffé Nero. The refinancing consists of £125 million of senior debt and £153 million of mezzanine debt.
The Ashurst team was led by Finance Partner Simon Thrower, assisted by associate Laura Ho and associate Sara Mardell advised on tax aspects.
Based at Smithywood Business Park in Sheffield, EMSc specialises in manufacturing energy saving devices for a range of clients including Premier hotels, the Whitbread Group and Asda.
Following the latest investment, the business is looking to capitalise on domestic demand, as well as that from overseas-based companies. These currently include companies such as the Investec Bank in South Africa.
EMSc employs over 100 people and has a turnover of £12.8m.
Ashurst has advised Barclays on the documentation supporting their unique lending proposition with BlueBay Asset Management's Direct Lending Fund. Barclays and BlueBay have collaborated to offer this solution to medium-sized enterprises in the UK in specific deal situations. They are offering single "unitranche" loans to finance UK financial sponsor-backed mid-market companies. This initiative will provide unitranche loans of up to £120 million, alongside which Barclays can provide other banking services and will be complementary to Barclays' and the Fund's existing lending activities.
Cravath represented Toll Brothers in connection with its US$600 million registered debt offering and its US$230 million registered common stock offering. Toll Brothers designs, builds, markets and arranges financing for detached and attached homes in luxury residential communities. The debt offering closed on November 21, 2013 and the equity offering closed on November 14, 2013.
The Cravath team included partners Kris F. Heinzelman and Joseph D. Zavaglia and associates Michael E. Mariani, Benjamin G. Joseloff and Thomas K. Wiesner III.
Ashurst advised The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland ('Bank of Ireland') on the prolongation and extension of a loan granted in 2009 for Kalle GmbH. Kalle is one of the world leaders in the production of casings for processed meat products out of viscose, polymer or textile.
The Ashurst team was led by banking partner Dr Stephan Kock. He was supported by counsel Miriam Petri, associate Axel Walch and transaction manager Dominique Blaurock. Partner Heiko Penndorf and associate Felix Krüger (all Frankfurt) advised on the tax aspects of the transaction.
Cravath represented the initial purchasers, led by J.P. Morgan Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley, in connection with the US$400 million 144A/Reg. S senior debt offering of TRW Automotive Inc., one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers. The transaction closed on November 21, 2013.
Slaughter and May advised Premier Foods on the refinancing and extension of its existing receivables securitisation programme, which was due to expire on 30 March 2014. The receivables securitisation programme was amended to, amongst other things, extend the availability period, increase the available funding from £100 million to £120 million, reduce the interest margin and improve the advance rate. Premier has described the transaction as an important step in its development of a long term and sustainable capital structure.
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Norton Rose Fulbright, Hong Kong, advised TIPTOP Energy Limited (TIPTOP) and Sinopec Century Bright Capital Investment Limited (Century Bright) on a US$3.5 billion five-year syndicated term loan facility. The loan was guaranteed by China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group).
TIPTOP is an asset holding company and the major upstream investment arm of Sinopec Group. TIPTOP is wholly-owned by Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation, which is the wholly-owned sole offshore upstream investment platform of Sinopec Group.
DLA Piper has advised on the €750 million re-financing of NH Hoteles, a large Spanish hotel group, and one of the top 25 hotel chains in the world.
NH Hoteles is one of the largest hotel chains in Europe, and operates almost 400 hotels with around 60,000 rooms in 26 countries across Europe, America and Africa.
Davis Polk advised Citigroup Global Markets Inc., RBS Securities Inc., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. and U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. as the joint book-running managers in connection with a registered offering by Louisville Gas and Electric Company of $250 million aggregate principal amount of 4.65% first mortgage bonds due 2043.