Milbank Advises Lenders on US$421 Million CamGSM/Mobitel Acquisition Financing
Royal Group of Cambodia Completes Financing of Cambodia’s largest M&A deal
SINGAPORE, December 1, 2009 – Milbank represented Standard Bank PLC and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited as joint-coordinating arrangers in Cambodia’s biggest-ever M&A deal, a US$421 million financing for the acquisition by the Royal Group of Cambodia of full control of the country’s number one mobile phone operator CamGSM and other assets. The Royal Group acquired a controlling stake in CamGSM from Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular SA Ltd, its long-time joint venture partner. Financing for the deal was completed this week.
“This was a landmark deal for Cambodia,” said David Zemans, Milbank’s Singapore managing partner, who led the deal. “It was the country’s largest M&A and acquisition financing deal ever and reflects the evolution of the country’s telecom infrastructure, with Royal Group buying out its joint venture partner after many years spent in successfully developing cellular services. For Milbank, this was an opportunity to leverage our strengths in executing complex acquisition financings and M&A deals in Asia.”
Glenn Gerstell, managing partner of Milbank’s Washington, DC office and head of the firm’s global communications practice, said: "We were delighted to work once again with Standard Bank, which has an especially strong track record in telecom financing in the emerging markets. This is exactly the kind of transaction in which we believe our telecom industry experience, plus our expertise in cross-border acquisition financing, make the difference in bringing a complex project to fruition."
Milbank’s team included lead attorney Robert Clarke and associates Pablo Malay, Peter Norman and Duncan Black in Singapore, and partner Glenn Gerstell in Washington.
Royal Group has a portfolio of businesses in Cambodia, including interests in technology, finance, leisure, media, transportation and property.
Other law firms involved included Clifford Chance (for the Royal Group) and Linklaters (for Millicom).
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Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a leading global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex and innovative transactions. Our transactional expertise includes Acquisition Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Project Finance and other major fields of law practice. Headquartered in New York, Milbank has 10 offices worldwide, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.