Milbank Counsels Arranger of Over US$1 Billion Export Credit Financing for America Movil, Latin America's Largest Mobile Phone Operator
WASHINGTON, DC, May 19, 2009 – Mexican telecom operator América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. has signed three loan facilities totaling over US$1 billion to finance the acquisition of telecom equipment and services from Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson AB. With over 176 million customers, América Móvil is Latin America’s largest mobile phone operator. The largest loan, of €500 million, was supported by an export credit guarantee by Finnvera, the Finnish national export credit agency, while the other two loans, of €300 million and US$471.5 million, were supported by export credit guarantees by Exportkreditnämnden, the Swedish national export credit agency, and by AB Svensk Exportkredit, the state-owned Swedish Export Credit Corporation. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as the sole Lead Arranger and Agent for each loan.
The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partner Glenn S. Gerstell, represented Citigroup in drafting and negotiating the financing documents.
Commenting on the deals, Mr. Gerstell noted, “Given the recent upheaval in the global financial markets, it was a significant achievement for all the parties involved to close these deals in such a timely and effective manner. Milbank is well-equipped to handle these types of international transactions because of our extensive experience in Latin American telecom financing and our familiarity with export credit agencies and supply contract financing.”
Mr. Gerstell is the managing partner of Milbank’s Washington, DC office and heads the firm’s global communications practice. In addition to Mr. Gerstell, the Milbank team representing Citigroup included associates Gavin W. McKeon, J. Christina Broch and Frederick S. Cristman.
Milbank acted as New York counsel to Citigroup, Ritch Mueller, S.C. advised Citigroup as to Mexican law, Hannes Snellman Attorneys at Law Ltd advised Citigroup as to Finnish law and Wistrand Advokatbyrå advised Citigroup as to Swedish law. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acted as New York counsel to América Móvil and Galicia y Robles, S.C. advised América Móvil as to Mexican law. Finnvera, Exportkreditnämnden and AB Svensk Exportkredit were advised by internal counsel.
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.