People, culture and work
Case study:
Innovative structure Client: Yell Lead practice area: Finance Value: £3.8 billion
In the face of continued uncertainty in the debt markets, we helped Yell Group implement an innovative refinancing structure to secure its financial position. Yell is the publisher of the Yellow Pages in
Natsai Gondo – Trainee The firm is renowned for its litigation practice – but it also gets the best corporate work. I love transactional work and we have some great blue-chip clients. I’ve seen many of our deals on the front page of the Financial Times. The work we do is truly international.
See video at:
herbertsmithgraduates.com/video/ natsaigondo
the UK and the
Yell.com website. With annual revenues of over £2 billion, the company owns similar operations in Spain and across the USA. A cross-practice Herbert Smith team in
London and Madrid worked closely with Yell, its financial advisers and key members of the syndicate. The objective was to re-schedule and adjust the key terms of Yell’s £3.8 billion senior debt. We created an innovative structure which
removed the need for unanimous consent of all lenders for a rescheduling of repayments. Yell gave its syndicate of over 1,200 lenders
the opportunity to exchange their existing debt for new debt. The new debt had a longer maturity, higher interest rates and more covenant headroom. In exchange, the proposals required acceptances from lenders holding 95% of the debt. This overcame the need for unanimous approval. To implement the refinancing, Yell made
offers to acquire the commitments of the lenders under the existing facilities. In return, lenders consenting to the proposals received participations in the new debt facilities and a consent fee.
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