Celebrating the most innovative Americas region legal deals of 2015, International Financial Law Review (“IFLR”), awarded the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP “Structured Finance and Securitisation Deal of the Year” for its work on Scorpio Tankers’ Kexim-guaranteed notes offering. IFLR is widely recognized as the premier magazine for in-house counsel and practitioners in the financial markets.
The Milbank team, led by Global Securities partner Stuart Morrissy, represented J.P. Morgan, as initial purchaser, in the $125 million note offering issued by Seven & Seven Ltd. to help finance a new fleet of eco-product tankers. The five-year bonds are guaranteed by The Export-Import Bank of Korea (“Kexim”).
The transaction marks the first time a Kexim-guaranteed bond offering was structured and marketed exclusively to US investors under Rule 144A and Regulation S. It also represents the first export credit agency-backed bond offering in the world to finance the purchase of shipping vessels. The deal sets an important shipping industry precedent by providing a lower cost-of-funding option for ship owners through Kexim’s guarantee of privately placed bonds in the deep and liquid US bond market and by boosting exports by Korea’s large shipbuilder community.
The Milbank team also included Global Securities associates Meredith Hines and Theo Hart; Transportation and Space partner Hugh Robertson; and Tax partner Andrew Walker and associate Erika Hauser.
