Milbank Represents Citigroup as Participant in $50 Billion Global Trade Finance Initiative
Partnership with IFC to Stimulate Trade Financing in Emerging Markets
NEW YORK, July 9, 2009 — International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has represented Citigroup in its $1.25 billion funding tie-up with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank. Citigroup and the IFC are launching the partnership as part of a $50 billion global trade finance initiative previously announced by the World Bank. New York-based Leveraged Finance partner Jonathan Green headed the Milbank team.
Under the arrangement, Citigroup will provide $750 million to banks in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East over three years. IFC and other development groups will invest up to $500 million in these transactions. The local banks will in turn extend trade financing to their importer and exporter clients. It is estimated that these arrangements will support trade flows in an amount up to $7.5 billion over the next three years as the loans will be short-term and the funds will be reinvested once borrowers repay.
The goal of the initiative is to stimulate trade financing in emerging markets by reducing the concerns of banks over the risk of funding trade transactions in these markets.
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Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent 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 and arbitration 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.