Milbank Advises Morgan Stanley as Lender in Verizon Wireless' Acquisition of Alltel Corporation
$28 Billion Deal Makes Verizon Wireless the Nation’s Largest Cell Phone Company
NEW YORK, June 5, 2008 – International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., (Morgan Stanley) as sole lead arranger of a multi-billion dollar bridge financing for use in Verizon Wireless’ $28.1 billion purchase of Alltel Corporation. Its acquisition of the regional wireless carrier gives Verizon Wireless the top spot in the U.S. wireless service market, nudging out competitor AT&T.
“Milbank’s role advising Morgan Stanley in this significant transaction builds upon our tradition of acquisition finance at the highest level,” said Blair Tyson, the Global Finance partner who led the transaction for Milbank.
The Milbank team also included Global Securities partner Robert W. Mullen, Jr., Global Finance practice group leader and partner Hugh Robertson and associates Cecilio Castillero and Jonathan Brown.
The team prepared, drafted and negotiated the key financing documents for the bridge financing. A portion of the proceeds will be used by Verizon Wireless to purchase certain outstanding indebtedness of Alltel in connection with the acquisition.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a pre-eminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The Firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC.