Norton Rose advises ABN AMRO, London Branch, WestLB AG, RZB and ING in the financing of the GTS Central Europe Group
14 July 2008
Norton Rose LLP advised ABN AMRO Bank N.V., London Branch, WestLB AG, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich Aktiengesellschaft, London Branch and ING Bank N.V. as mandated lead arrangers of senior debt facilities of up to EUR 175,000,000 made available to various entitles of the GTS Central Europe Group following the acquisition by Consortium 2 S.à r.l of GTS Central Europe Holdings Limited. The GTS Central Europe Group is a provider of telecommunications services to businesses, corporates and international carriers in the Central European region with subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The transaction signed 28 April.
GTS Central Europe Group is owned by a consortium of investors led by Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners, Innova Capital and HarbourVest. Syntaxis and Indigo Capital provided a mezzanine facility of EUR 25,000,000.
Lead banking partner, Michael Ings commented:
“We are delighted to be involved in such an interesting and challenging transaction and its success is a tribute to the sensible attitude and hard work of all involved”.
The transaction involved detailed structuring to ensure maximum recourse to the operating subsidiaries of GTS Central Europe Group taking into account the differing financial assistance restrictions applying in the various jurisdictions.
The syndication of the senior facilities was oversubscribed notwithstanding the difficult market conditions.
The team was led by Michael Ings and Tim Waghorn with assistance from Mark Fine, Josh Cairns, Michelle Avraham and Alastair Hamilton. Dutch advice was provided by Wouter Hertzberger and Mei Land Man. Czech advice was provided by Pavel Kvicala and Marek Belsan and Polish advice was provided by Gregorz Dyczkowski and Jacek Smardzewski.
The GTS Central Europe Group was advised by Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. The mezzanine lenders were advised by Macfarlanes.
For further information please contact:
Stuart Lennon
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