VALUE CREATION AND PROTECTION
DrivingInnovation
Technology has generated a wave of innovation that has spread across the economy, from consumer goods through to financial services, to pharmaceuticals and real estate, reaching up and down the value chain. Many innovations center on the relationship between business and end user; others have altered the very architecture of an industry or transformed basic transactional processes. For the first time, business has the potential to meet the challenge to deliver "better, faster, and cheaper" in a world that increasingly expects all three, all the time. Each company's business imperative is to grow by maintaining its focus on securing and developing its competitive edge. Innovation has become the pathway for growth.
Highlights of our
Client Successes
GE Capital completes one of Latin America's largest-ever real estate financings
We represented GE Capital as lender and agent in an approximately US$3B seller financing loan facility, one of the largest real estate financings ever in Latin America, as part of the sale of GE Capital. We created an innovative hybrid securitization/dual-currency seller financing model, enabling our client to finance the purchase by affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies Fund of GE's commercial real estate mortgage loan portfolio in Mexico. The financing involved three separate credit facilities, each secured by a Mexican collateral trust: one in U.S. dollars, one in Mexican pesos, and one dual-currency agreement.
Building the world's largest satellite constellation
We advised WorldVu Satellites Limited, also known as OneWeb, on a private placement of more than US$500M to its strategic partners. OneWeb is building the world's largest satellite constellation, which will offer Internet connectivity to billions of people around the world.
Global airline launches innovative financing platform
Our lawyers helped Etihad Airways structure an innovative financing platform set up to fund its equity alliance partners' airline, cargo, and airport service businesses using a single, rated, secured note issuance valued at US$700M. The platform structure provides long-term funding on standardized terms for Etihad and its airline partners through a bespoke package of debt instruments. We successfully completed this complex transaction in just nine months under challenging marketing conditions.
Investing in distressed opportunities in China
We represented China Orient Summit Capital, an offshore investment management platform, and global investment firm KKR in their co-investment in credit and distressed opportunities in the Chinese market. Our lawyers advised on setting up the joint venture and the investment platform, as well as on the subsequent investments. China Orient is one of only four licensed national asset management companies and wholesalers of non-performing loans in China.
Case Study
Landmark cross-border merger in Europe's defense industry
When France's Nexter Systems sought to merge with its German counterpart, Krauss-MaffeiWegmann (KMW), Nexter turned to Paul Hastings to help negotiate and structure this complex deal. We guided our client through a host of sensitive political and business issues to complete the merger—a major step in the consolidation of the European defense industry, and one of the largest mergers in the defense industry since the founding of EADS in 2000.
Nexter, fully owned by GIAT Industries (a state-owned company), designs and manufactures land defense systems, ranging from armored vehicles and artillery to ammunition and support systems. KMW is a family-controlled group whose defense products are used by more than 50 countries around the world.
In 2014, Nexter and KMW announced plans for an alliance, which they determined would bring the companies together under a holding company. The advantages for the combined business were clear: complementary products and geographies, as well as reinforced research and development capabilities in an increasingly competitive environment.
Upon closing in December 2015, the deal established the holding company, incorporated in The Netherlands, as the sole shareholder of Nexter and KMW, and charged its management with ensuring a strict equilibrium between the French and German companies. Today, the combined company is the European leader in land defense systems, with nearly €2B in sales and more than 6,000 employees.