Offering is the second-largest U.S. corporate bond sale of 2018

Linklaters has advised the Vodafone Group on its US$11.5 billion bond offering, which represents the second-largest U.S. high-grade bond to price this year.

The dollar-denominated offering consisted of six-tranches and closed on May 30, 2018. The SEC-registered notes have fixed and floating rates with an average life of 14 years and effective average euro rate of 2.0%. They are expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Vodafone intends to use the net proceeds from the transaction to either fund the acquisition of Liberty Global's operations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania or for general corporate purposes.

Bank of America, Barclays, HSBC, and RBC acted as joint bookrunners.

The Linklaters team was led by London-based U.S. partner Mike Bienenfeld, who was assisted by U.S. associates Alex Parkhouse and Rachel Ashton.