Milbank Represents Initial Purchasers of First Debt Offering by a Mexican Company Since Credit Crisis
Firm Advises HSBC and JP Morgan on Grupo Televisa’s $500 Million Note Offering
NEW YORK, May 16, 2008 – Spanish language media company Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (“Televisa”) has issued $500 million of securities in a ten-year notes offering. The offering marks the first sale of debt securities into the international capital markets by a Mexican corporation since October, when market access was restricted as a result of the credit crisis. The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partner Michael Fitzgerald, represented the initial purchasers HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. (“HSBC”) and JP Morgan Securities Inc. (“JP Morgan”) in the debt offering.
Mr. Fitzgerald noted, “This is the first debt offering by a Mexican company since the onset of the credit crisis and reflects improving fundamentals in the Latin American markets and pent up demand for high quality issuers like Televisa. Hopefully, this represents a turning point in the ability of Latin American companies to access the markets following last fall’s credit crisis.”
In addition to New York-based partner Fitzgerald, the Milbank team representing HSBC and JP Morgan included associates Arturo Carrillo and Pedro Reyes and international attorney Lorena Baqueiro. Tax advice was provided by partner Bruce Kayle.
About the Offering:
Based in Mexico City, Televisa is the largest media company in the Spanish speaking world and a major participant in the international entertainment industry. In the offering, Televisa issued senior notes in an aggregate principal amount of $500 million due in 2018 with a coupon rate of 6.0 percent and with SEC registration rights. The offering was reported to be more than four times oversubscribed. Televisa plans to use the net proceeds from the note offering for general corporate purposes.
Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group:
Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group has played a prominent role in some of the region’s most innovative and complex transactions, including securities offerings, M & A, project financings and restructurings. Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group is renowned for its leadership in sophisticated cross-border transactions and combines both the transactional and regulatory expertise necessary to successfully negotiate and close innovative securities offerings and other transactions across a wide range of industries.
About Milbank
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 and transactions, 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.