Richard Lloyd

Acquisition Finance: Syndicated Bank Lending

• Acting for Credit Suisse AG, as Collateral and Calculation Agent and Lender, in connection with a facility provided to SBT Investors, LLC, for the acquisition of Chelsea Football Club.
• Acting for certain banks (as first lien lenders), including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, ING, NatWest, RBI and UBS, JP Morgan (as agent) and Wilmington Trust (as security agent), on a €1.825 billion term loan and €145 million revolving credit facility extension and refinancing provided to Advent International's portfolio company, Zentiva Group.
• Acting for J.P. Morgan AG, UniCredit S.p.A. and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, on the revolving credit facility and debut high yield bond offering by Cedacri Mergeco S.p.A., to finance the acquisition of Cedacri S.p.A..
• Acting for JP Morgan on the financing to Nuova Argo Finanziaria S.p.A. to fund the public-to-private acquisition of ASTM S.p.A. for a total value of approximately €1.93 billion.
• Acting for JP Morgan and Nomura on the financing of the acquisition of Groupe CEP by Bridgepoint.
• Acting for the Royal Bank of Canada, KKR Credit Advisors and National Westminster Bank on the take-private acquisition of Charles Taylor plc by Lovell Minnick Partners.
• Acting for the group of lenders, including Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Credit Suisse AG, Mizuho Bank, LTD., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (PUBL), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, on the financing of the acquisition of Alloheim by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for certain banks, including Credit Suisse International, DNB Bank ASA, Sweden Branch, UBS Limited and Unicredit Bank AG, London Branch, on the financing of the acquisition of Ullink and Itiviti by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for certain banks, including Credit Suisse International, Danske Bank A/S, DNB Bank ASA, Nykredit Bank A/S, on the financing of the acquisition of Stark Group by Lone Star Funds.
• Acting for certain banks, including Credit Suisse International and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, on the financing of the acquisition of Esmalglass by Lone Star Funds.
• Acting for certain banks, including DNB Bank ASA, Fillal AF DNB Bank ASA Norge, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, AB (PUBL) and UniCredit SpA., on the financing of the acquisition of Louis Poulsen by Investindustrial.

Acquisition Finance: Unitranche/Direct Lending

• Acting for Ares Management Limited (as term loan lender), Ares Management Limited (as holdco PIK lender), ABN Amro (as super senior revolving credit facility lender) and Ares Management Limited (as agent and security agent) on the financing to European Dental Group, a Nordic Capital portfolio company.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited (as term loan lender, agent and security agent) on the financing to Max Matthiesson, in connection with its acquisition by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited (as term loan lender) and Kroll (as agent and security agent) on the financing for the acquisition of the Helmshauer Group, by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Tikehau Investment Management (as lender) and Kroll (as agent and security agent) on the back-levered holdco financing, structured as a secured notes issuance facility for the investment by TA Associates in Diatech Pharmacogenetics S.r.l.
• Acting for Tikehau Investment Management (as term loan lender) and Aether (as agent and security agent) on the financing of the acquisition of CLC Group, by H.I.G. Capital.
• Acting for Ares Management and SEB, as lenders, on the public-to-private acquisition of Cary Group, a Nasdaq Stockholm listed company, by Nordic Capital and CVC Funds.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited on the financing of the acquisition of Conscia, by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited (as lender and facility agent) on a DKK 3.7 billion term loan facility extension and refinancing provided to Nordic Capital's portfolio company, Conscia A/S, a provider of cybersecurity and IT infrastructure across Europe.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited (as term loan lenders) and SwedbankAB (publ) (as super senior revolving credit facility lender) on the financing of the acquisition of Sortera AB (publ), by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Arcmont Management Limited and Goldman Sachs on the financing of the acquisition of Equipe Zorgbedrijven, by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited on the financing of the acquisition of Trustly, by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Goldman Sachs, Golub Capital and Berenberg, as term and revolving credit lenders, on the financing of Nova Holdings' acquisition of BBI Group.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited on the acquisition of OCM Netherlands Dental Clinics Holdings and Adent Cliniques Dentaires Groupe by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Blackstone Credit on the financing of the acquisition of the European and Asia-Pacific operations of Scotts Miracle-Gro, Exponent.
• Acting for Blackstone Credit on the financing of the acquisition of MKM Building Supplies by Bain Capital.
• Acting for Blackstone Credit on the financing of the acquisition of Walterscheid Powertrain by One Equity Partners.
• Acting for Goldman Sachs (through its funds) on the financing of the acquisition of Ober Scharrer Gruppe by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Goldman Sachs (through its funds) on the financing of the acquisition of PS Healthcare by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Goldman Sachs (through its funds) on the financing of the acquisition of Netrisk by TA Associates.
• Acting for Blackstone Credit in connection with debt financing made available to HCS Group, a portfolio company of HIG.

Corporate Finance

• Acting for Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Goldman Sachs Private Credit, as lenders, on a SEK 1.07 billion facility increase and refinancing provided to TA Investors for the purposes of a share investment in Söderberg & Partners Holding AB, a provider of insurance brokerage and financial services in the Nordic region.
• Acting for M&G, MidCap and Permira as senior lenders and acting for HSBC as RCF lender, on the refinancing provided to Sterling Pharma, a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing organisation owned by GHO Capital and Partners Group.
• Acting for Ares Management Limited as senior lender and ABN Amro, Investec and Bank of Ireland as RCF Lenders, on the refinancing provided to European Dental Group, a leading European dental care and services provider owned by Nordic Capital.
• Acting for J.P. Morgan SE as agent and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., London Branch and Barclays Bank plc, as lenders to McGill and Partners Ltd, a (re)insurance broker owned by Warburg Pincus.
• Acting for Barclays Bank PLC and J.P. Morgan on the refinancing and upsizing of the existing credit facilities of the McGill and Partners Group.
• Acting for HSBC Bank plc, Royal Bank of Canada and Clydesdale Bank as lenders to FNZ.
• Acting for Oaktree Capital Management, Centerbridge Partners, Cross Ocean Partners, Barings LLC and Canyon Capital Partners LLC on the refinancing and upsizing of the existing credit facilities of the Odeon Cinemas group.
• Acting for lenders and initial purchasers on the refinancing and high yield bond offering by The Very Group plc.
• Acting for Santander and HSBC, on the debt financing package to support Caffè Nero's refinancing of all its debt.
• Acting for the group of lenders to GHD GesundHeits, a portfolio company of Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Deutsche Bank AG as Sole Lender with respect to various financings provided to KSE, UK, Inc. in connection with its recommended mandatory cash offer made for and ownership of Arsenal Holdings PLC, the UK listed holding entity for Arsenal Football.
• Acting for the group of lenders to The Binding Site, a portfolio company of Nordic Capital.
• Acting for the group of lenders, including HSBC, SEB and SMBC to Sunrise Medical, a portfolio company of Nordic Capital.
• Acting for Barings Global Advisers Limited and Goldman Sachs Private Capital on the refinancing of Cordenka GmbH & Co. KG.
• Acting for Deutsche Bank in connection with its real estate financing of the development of a central London data centre by Volta Data Centres.
• Acting for Amigo Loans Ltd on the Super Senior revolving credit facility and new issuance of senior secured High Yield Notes by Amigo Luxembourg S.A.
• Acting for DX (Group) plc, a leading independent logistics operator in the UK and Republic of Ireland, on its financial reorganisation and refinancing provided by HSBC Bank plc, in connection with its initial public offering and admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
• Acting for Sunseeker luxury yacht group on the refinancing provided by HSBC Bank plc.

Restructuring

• Acting for the revolving credit facility lenders of Selecta, a portfolio company of KKR Capital Markets, on its debt restructuring.
• Acting for the cinema chain Vue International on its successful recapitalisation. Vue International secured 100 per cent lender consent to the recapitalisation steps, enabling a fully consensual implementation exercise, as part of which the ownership of the group passed to its senior lenders in exchange for a discharge of approximately £470 million of debt.
• Acting for the revolving credit facility lenders on the restructuring of Lowen Play, the German arcade gaming group.
• Acting for Deutsche Bank, on the financing provided to KCA Deutag to restructure its debt facilities.