Slaughter and May advised Derwent London plc, a leading London property developer and investor, in relation to a note purchase agreement with New York Life for the issue and purchase of £100 million private placement notes. The notes are to be issued in January 2014 and will consist of £25 million Series A Notes, with a maturity of 15 years and a coupon of 4.41%, and £75 million Series B Notes, with a maturity of 20 years and a coupon of 4.68%. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing financial indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has advised underwriters in structuring $797 million in enhanced equipment notes issued by Virgin Australia Holdings Limited.  The offering represents the Australian carrier’s first foray in the global debt markets.

Milbank represented Goldman Sachs, Credit Agricole, and Natixis in the transaction, which is being offered in four separate investor tranches.

Davis Polk advised BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc. as the joint book-running managers in connection with a registered offering by Kentucky Utilities Company of $250 million aggregate principal amount of 4.65% first mortgage bonds due 2043. The bonds are secured by a first mortgage lien on substantially all of Kentucky Utilities Company’s real and tangible personal property located in Kentucky and used in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. 

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong advised Swire Pacific Limited on the annual update of the US$5,000,000,000 Medium Term Note Programme of Swire Pacific MTN Financing Limited, its wholly owned subsidiary. Notes issued under the programme are guaranteed by Swire Pacific Limited and may be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HSBC and Morgan Stanley are the Joint Arrangers under the programme.

CONACTS

Capital Markets: Laurence Rudge (partner), Catherine Hau (associate)

Clifford Chance advised Bank Deutsches Kraftfahrzeuggewerbe GmbH as originator on a EUR 1 billion German auto loan securitisation. The auto loans, relating to new and used vehicles, were originated and sold by Bank Deutsches Kraftfahrzeuggewerbe GmbH to Red & Black Auto Germany 2 UG (haftungsbeschränkt).

The transaction, arranged by Société Générale S.A., is the second in the Red & Black Auto Germany securitisation. The portfolio comprises loans to businesses and commercial customers in Germany.

Clifford Chance has advised Vingroup Joint Stock Company on the United States and New York law aspects of its US$200 million 144a Reg S 11.625% notes due 2018. This was the largest, and only the second US dollar high yield bond issued by a Vietnamese corporate.

Credit Suisse was the sole global coordinator for the notes, which were offered under Rule 144A and Regulation S. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and ING were the joint bookrunners.

Kirkland & Ellis International LLP represented Oberthur Technologies Holding S.A.S., one of the world's largest providers of security and identification solutions based on smart card technologies, in its offering of €190.0 million in aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2020. The transaction closed on October 18, 2013. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to refinance certain indebtedness. Oberthur Technologies is a portfolio company of Advent International, a global private equity firm which invests in companies across a
variety of sectors.

Paul Hastings represented Fresnillo plc, the world’s largest silver miner and one of the world’s largest precious metals miners, in connection with its inaugural international issuance of debt securities. Fresnillo is a U.K. organized, FTSE 100 company, with operations primarily in Mexico. The five times oversubscribed offering involved the issuance of US$800 million of 5.500% Senior Notes due 2023 pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. The underwriters involved were Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan.

The Moscow and London offices of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP have advised long standing client OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (“Norilsk Nickel”) on the successful closing of a US$1billion 7-year Eurobond offering, with an annual coupon rate of 5.55%.

The offering, which included a tranche offered to qualified investors in the United States pursuant to the Rule 144A exemption, resulted in Norilsk Nickel achieving a longer tenor for the notes than for any debt instrument that it has previously issued.

Shearman & Sterling advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and TD Securities as arrangers and bookmanagers in connection with a $1 billion cross-border financing for TransCanada Pipeline USA Ltd.

The Shearman & Sterling team included partner Maura O’Sullivan (New York-Finance), counsel Susan Hobart (New York-Finance) and associate Dovid Duchman (New York-Finance).