Hogan Lovells has advised Swissport Group in connection with the financing and completion of its acquisition of Aerocare, the number one ground handling operator in Australia and New Zealand.

Swissport is the world’s largest provider of ground and cargo handling services in the aviation industry. It operates across 315 airports around the world with a work force in excess of 68,000 personnel.

Swissport, via its Aerocare acquisition, gains access to a very attractive client base. Founded in 1992 Aerocare has grown to become the largest ground handling company within the region. It employs more than 3,000 staff and provides services to major domestic and international airlines across 36 airports in Australia and New Zealand.

A cross-practice, multi-jurisdictional Hogan Lovells team successfully represented Swissport on the financing and completion of the acquisition by way of a €325 million incremental Term Loan B facility provided by Barclays.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Alexander Premont, Banking, London and Paris, Gordon Wilson, Banking, Washington, D.C., Richard Hayes, Banking, Sydney, Matthew Johnson, Corporate, Perth

and Sylvain Dhennin, International Debt Capital Markets, London.

Richard Hayes, head of the firm's banking practice in Australia, commented that:

"We were delighted to combine our international financing and corporate expertise to assist our client with this transformational acquisition and look forward to working with the Swissport and Aerocare teams to continue their impressive growth trajectories."