Luwam Berhane Mezue is special counsel in the London office of Milbank LLP and a member of the firm’s European Leveraged Finance/Capital Markets Group.
Contact
London
Primary Focus & Experience
Recognized as a Financial News “Rising Star of European Finance” in 2025, Luwam is a trusted and versatile adviser. With both private practice and in-house experience, she advises across capital markets, leveraged finance and financial restructuring matters. She has executed debt financings across the capital structure (including high yield bonds, syndicated leveraged loans, hybrid products and private credit), complex liability management transactions and restructurings, and ESG/sustainability-linked bonds and loans.
A selection of Luwam’s experience includes advising:
- Altice France, a leading telecommunications provider on its historic French safeguard restructuring and corresponding chapter 15 proceedings in the United States of more than €20 billion of debt.*
- Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Mizuho on all the financing elements of Outbrain’s acquisition of Teads, which consisted of a $625 million funded bridge facility, a $100 million revolving credit facility and issuance of $637.5 million of 10.000% senior secured notes due 2030, which was used to refinance the bridge facility.*
- Oriflame in connection with a comprehensive recapitalisation to deliver a substantially de-levered and sustainable balance sheet with a debt reduction of approximately €520 million and a meaningful maturity runway.
- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and the other initial purchasers on the offering of $1.6 billion aggregate principal amount of senior secured second lien notes by First Quantum Minerals, the largest mining high yield deal of the past decade (winner of “High Yield Deal of the Year” 2025 by IFLR Americas).*
- BidFair on its US$3.7 billion acquisition of Sotheby’s, which included advising on the acquisition financing aspects of the transaction, including a $600 million high yield bond, a $500 million Term Loan B and a $400 million revolving credit facility.*
*Matter completed prior to joining Milbank.
Recognition & Accomplishments
Financial News “Rising Stars of European Finance” in 2025
“High Yield Deal of the Year” 2025 by IFLR Americas
Additional Details
Education
- Princeton University, B.A.
- Harvard Law School, J.D.
Admissions
- New York
