FRANKFURT, April 22, 2014 – Milbank represented ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG on a new comprehensive group financing, comprising a corporate bond of EUR 600 million and a syndicated loan agreement of EUR 2 billion. Both instruments were heavily oversubscribed and the bond size increased from EUR 500 to EUR 600 million due to strong investor demand.
The bank/bond refinancing replaces the secured LBO-style syndicated facilities in the original amount of EUR 4.2 billion which financed the purchase of the SBS Group from KKR and Permira in 2007.
Following the exit of majority shareholders KKR and Permira in late 2013, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG took advantage of the buoyant markets and secured an investment grade style documentation with no security and attractive pricing.
This is the first time Milbank advises long-standing client ProSiebenSat.1 on a debt capital markets instrument. Senior associate Mathias Eisen took the lead on the bond issuance with finance partner Thomas Ingenhoven advising on the syndicated loan agreement and overseeing the overall financing structure. Other finance team members working on the transaction were Oliver Hahnelt, Tobias Brinkmann and Johann Hecht. Further lawyers from the corporate group (Martin Erhardt, Christoph Rothenfusser, Malte Krohn), tax (Thomas Kleinheisterkamp, Matthias Schell) and antitrust (Alexander Rinne, Tatjana Mühlbach) were involved in the drafting of the offering memorandum.
