Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP advised Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Agricultural Bank of China Limited, New York Branch, Bank of China (Hungary) Close LTD., and Bank of Communications Co., LTD. (acting through its Offshore Banking Unit) (altogether the “Lenders”), on the recently completed US$910 million acquisition financing to HNA Aviation (Hong Kong) Ground Handling Holdings Co., Limited, a Hong Kong affiliate of HNA Group Co., Ltd. (“HNA Group”). HNA Group, a conglomerate with major businesses in aviation, holdings, capital, tourism and logistics in the People’s Republic of China and the owner of China’s fourth-largest airline, acquired Swissport International Ltd., the world’s largest ground and cargo handling group, which is considered by Bloomberg to be the fifth-biggest acquisition in Europe by a Chinese company. The financing consists of various security elements from Hong Kong, Luxemburg, Cayman Islands and China.
“We are very pleased to have assisted the Lenders on this complicated financing, one of several such cross border financings we have closed for Chinese companies.” said Neil Caddy, partner in Milbank’s London office and member of the firm’s Leveraged Finance Group.
Jacqueline Chan, partner in Milbank Singapore office, remarked, “The global Milbank team, composed of attorneys in our China practice and Leveraged Finance groups based in the London, Beijing and Singapore offices, advised the lending group and local counsel from four jurisdictions to close the deal. It is a testament to the sophistication and depth of Milbank’s China and leveraged finance practices that we were able to execute this deal seamlessly on an extremely tight, acquisition-led timetable.”
“This was an incredibly complex transaction, requiring tight coordination across multiple clients and three continents,” said Shepard Liu, partner in Milbank Beijing office and the day-to-day team leader of the project. “The transaction was exceptionally demanding and the Milbank team was delighted to support in overcoming a number of commercial and legal challenges to help our clients successfully close this strategically important transaction.”
The Milbank team also included associates Li Wei in Beijing and Misa Schmiederova in London. The Lenders’ local counsel included Deacons in Hong Kong, Stibbe in Luxemburg, Harneys in Cayman Islands and Run Ming Law Office in China. Fangda Partners represented the HNA Group.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a leading international law firm that provides innovative legal services to clients around the world. Founded in New York 150 years ago, Milbank has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC.
Milbank’s lawyers collaborate across practices and offices to help the world’s leading commercial, financial and industrial enterprises, as well as institutions, individuals and governments, achieve their strategic objectives.
