Shearman & Sterling and Latham & Watkins have advised Thomas Cook and the underwriting banks in the global travel specialists’ €750m high yield bond offering, guaranteed by various Thomas Cook subsidiaries. The offering comprised of 6.25% senior notes due 2022, and the proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt.
Shearman advised the lead underwriter Merrill Lynch International and co-managers DNB Markets and Lloyds Bank, alongside Société Générale, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Industriel et Commercial, Credit Suisse, KBC, Morgan Stanley, RBS and UniCredit. The banks were also advised in Europe by Allen & Overy, Cederquist and Wolf Theiss Rechtsanwälte.
Shearman’s team was led by European capital markets head Apostolos Gkoutzinis (pictured) and included finance partners Korey Fevzi and Ronan Wicks, tax partners Kristen Garry in Washington DC and Simon Letherman in London and capital markets partner Marwa Elborai.
Latham advised Thomas Cook and its various subsidiaries in the UK, New York, France and Germany, with a team led by corporate finance partners Tracy Edmonson and Christopher Hall. Thomas Cook was also advised in Europe by Simmons & Simmons, CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati Rechtsanwälte, Noerr Menzer and Törngren Magnell. Simmons’ team was led by regulatory partner France Wilmet in Belgium and capital markets partner Marieke Driessen in Netherlands.
Gkoutzinis said: ‘We were delighted to represent the underwriting banks, led by our longstanding clients BofA Merrill Lynch, DNB Markets and Lloyds Bank, on this very significant transaction for Thomas Cook, the corporate debt market in the UK, and the broader European market especially post Brexit.’
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
For more on Shearman see: ‘Can Shearman finally get ahead of the curve after 15 years of diminishing returns?’
