Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy's Telecom Group has been recognized as a leading practice at the cutting edge of the market by a duo of independent industry awards. The group has been awarded "Best Deal of 2015" by Global Trade Review and "Best Americas ECA Finance Deal" by Trade Export Finance as part of their "Perfect 10 Deal of the Year" awards, for its work advising Seaborn Networks on building the first direct point-to-point submarine cable connection between New York and São Paulo. Known as Seabras-1, the US$500 million financing for the cable project connects points of presence (POPs) between the US and Brazil.
Believed to be the first export credit agency-backed project financing of a subsea cable project in the 160-year history of the global telecommunications industry, Seabras-1 is noted by GTR for its "size and ambition".
Full project equity capital was provided by Partners Group and development capital was provided by Seaborn. The project funding also includes a total project debt commitment of up to US$267 million provided by Natixis, Banco Santander, Commerzbank and Intesa SanPaolo, which is backed by COFACE, the French Export Credit Agency.
John Franchini, Corporate partner who led the Milbank team, said: "We’re delighted that our team has been recognized in this way as we continue to advise on market defining telecommunications projects around the world. Bringing together a transatlantic cross-practice team, we were able to advance this historic transaction, which once operational, will represent a major step in enhancing telecommunications infrastructure between Brazil and the rest of the world."
GTR’s "Best Deals of 2015" reward trade, export, commodity and project finance transactions that best represent the industry for their innovation, social purpose, clever risk mitigation and, most importantly, continued support to trade. The institutions involved in these transactions are noted for their great resolve and for the ultimate purpose of boosting world development. TXF’s "Perfect 10 Deal of the Year" awards similarly note the world's best projects in the export credit agency/project finance market.
The awards follow a series of industry recognitions for our Telecom Group. Earlier this year, a cross-practice transatlantic team led by partner John Dewar was awarded "European Telecoms Deal of the Year" at the IJGlobal Europe and Africa awards for their work advising O3b Networks in connection with its US$1.7 billion financing of a constellation of satellites to support fast broadband connections. Milbank was also ranked the No.1 Telecom Legal Advisor for 2015 in the Global Infrastructure Journal 2015 league table.
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.
