Milbank's high yield practice is 'at the top of the London market' and clients remarks that the lawyers are 'commercial thinkers who provide outstanding client service'. A leading firm for corporate issuers, it also advises lenders on leveraged buyouts, particularly when there is a complex bond financing structure. The practice led by Apostolos Gkoutzinis is also sought after for its advice on bond restructurings. Gkoutzinis and key partner Rebecca Marques advised initial purchasers on a €725m offering of senior secured floating rate notes and €300m in senior secured notes by Fiber Bidco S.p.A., the proceeds going towards the funding of the acquisition of Fedrigoni. 'Creative problem solvers' Gkoutzinis and Randy Nahlé acted for initial purchasers, placement agents and lenders in a €690m offering by Italmatch Chemicals as part of the company's debt refinancing process. Tim Peterson, who is an innovator in the private high yield market, and 'extremely knowledgeable and efficient' partner Ana Grbec are both highly regarded by both clients and peers. Grbec assisted Castor S.p.A. with the €1.4bn financing of its take-private leveraged buyout of Cerved Group.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Ana Grbec is an invaluable member of the Milbank HY team. Extremely knowledgeable, stays up-to-date with all market trends and cares deeply about her clients. She is efficient and knows how to be practicable and commercial.’
‘Milbank's High Yield team is at the top of the London market. They are commercial thinkers and have outstanding client service.’
‘Apostolos Gkoutzinis and Randy Nahlé treat us as if we were their best client. They are creative problem solvers, and work commercially on deals (as opposed to some other firms, who run up fees fighting over unimportant points).’
‘I think that the Milbank team is simply a top capital markets team in europe, with key language skills in the key geographies and fantastic amount of experience from which to draw to solve complex issues on their transactions.’
‘Apostolos Gkoutzinis and Ana Grbec are top top professionals in the market. In addition, Trevor Truman and Randy Nahle are also very strong capital markets lawyers. Each of the foregoing are not only excellent lawyers but great human beings and a pleasure to work across from on transactions.’

Key clients

Portfolio companies of ION Investment Corporation S.à r.l. and its subsidiaries
SAZKA Group
Together Financial Services Limited
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive plc
Public Power Corporation S.A.
Ferroglobe PLC
Canary Wharf Group
PeopleCert Wisdom Issuer plc
Goldman Sachs
BNP Paribas
HSBC Bank plc
Morgan Stanley
Citigroup
BofA
JP Morgan

Work highlights

Advised the underwriting banks on the $2.5 billion bond offering by EIG Pearl Holdings S.à r.l. in connection with its acquisition of a minority stake in Aramco Oil Pipelines Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Oil Company.
Represented the initial purchasers in connection with an offering of €725,000,000 senior secured floating rate notes due 2027 and €300,000,000 11.00% senior secured notes due 2027 by Fiber Bidco S.p.A.
Advised Athens International Airport S.A. as issuer on over €1.1 billion of bond loans made available to it for the management and operation of Athens International Airport. National Bank of Greece S.A., Piraeus Bank S.A., Alpha Bank S.A. and Eurobank S.A. acted as, amongst other roles, underwriters and mandated lead arrangers.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.