Linklaters’ U.S. high yield group is fully integrated into the firm’s top-ranking banking and finance practice and comprises highly regarded specialists with leading high yield and other covenant-intensive debt securities, leveraged finance and restructuring expertise.
Our U.S. high yield group, strengthened with the arrival of Mark Hageman from Cravath, Swaine & Moore in September 2010, has made substantial inroads into the market during 2010 acting for underwriters, financial sponsors and corporate issuers on a number of the most important recent new money high yield bond offerings and high yield bridge commitments and loans.
Linklaters is one of the first firms to fully integrate our U.S. high yield lawyers into our banking and finance practice. This gives us the unique ability to deliver the seamless and efficient execution of multi-tranche bank and bond capital structures at a time when the market is moving toward more malleable transaction structures involving loans, bonds or a combination of the two.
Recent Corporate High Yield Transaction highlights include:
- Norske Skog, €150 million 13% Senior Notes due 2016, acting for company
- CGGVeritas, $650 million 6.5% Senior Notes due 2021, acting for company
- House of Fraser, £250 million 8.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2018, acting for company
- Befesa Zinc, €300 million 8.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2018, acting for company
- Alba, €200 million 8% Senior Notes due 2018, acting for company
- Carmeuse, $450 million 6.875% Senior Secured Notes due 2018, acting for company
Recent Sponsor High Yield Transaction highlights include:
- Evonik Carbon Black (Rhône, Triton portfolio company), €355 million 10% Senior Secured Notes due 2018 and $350 million 9.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2018 - part of a senior bank/high yield bond financing, acting for Barclays Capital, Goldmans Sachs, UBS
- Guala Closures (DLJ Merchant Banking portfolio company), €200 million 9.375% Senior Notes due 2018, acting for company
- Dometic (EQT portfolio company), €200 million 12.75% Senior PIK Notes due 2019, acting for Goldman Sachs
- Hyva (Unitas Capital portfolio company) $375 million 8.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2016, acting for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nomura and Goldman Sachs - This is the first bank loan plus high-yield bond acquisition financing in Asia in recent memory
- Moto (Macquarie portfolio company), £176 million 101/4% Second Lien Notes due 2017, acting for Deutsche Bank
- Care UK (Bridgepoint portfolio company), £250 million 9.75% Senior Secured Notes due 2017, acting for company
- A.T.U (KKR portfolio company), €375 million 11.0% Senior Secured Notes due 2014 and €75 million Floating Rate Senior Secured Notes due 2014, acting for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
