Ropes & Gray Continues to Grow and Diversify London Finance Practice

Ropes & Gray has provided bank-side advice on two high yield bond offerings that closed last week, as the firm’s London office continues to grow its market share of underwriter-side representations to complement its award-winning issuer-side practice. 

Showcasing its English and U.S. law capabilities in a bridge-to-bond P2P transaction, Ropes & Gray’s London-based finance team advised a consortium of banks on a dual-currency €775 million-equivalent senior secured notes offering with the proceeds used to refinance the previously funded bridge loan used to finance the take-private of Oriflame, an international beauty company. The Ropes & Gray team was led by finance partner Michael Kazakevich, with associates Ana Biloglav, Shabdita Gupta and Luwam Mezue. 

Ropes & Gray also advised a consortium of banks on an €800 million senior notes offering by Intrum, Europe’s largest credit management company. Proceeds will be used to refinance certain of Intrum’s existing indebtedness. The London-based team was led by partners Michael Kazakevich. 

Michael Kazakevich, global co-head of finance at Ropes & Gray, said, “These deals showcased our bench strength on both the English and US sides of our finance practice. The additions to the team at both the partner and associate level over the past 12 months have allowed us to grow our market share of underwriter/lender mandates while continuing to deliver the elite level of service we have come to be known for in the London market. These recent deals build on what has been a stellar 2019 for Ropes & Gray’s London finance group. We expect that the results we have seen in the first half of this year are just the beginning as we continue to pursue opportunities to increase our share of deal volume from existing sponsor and corporate clients as well as a growing amount of work from investment banks.” 

In June, Ropes & Gray was named Transatlantic Finance Team of the Year at the Transatlantic Legal Awards 2019, in recognition of the advice it provided long-time client Altice USA on the structuring, financing, corporate and securities laws aspects of the combination of two of its businesses - Suddenlink (Cequel) and Optimum (Cablevision) - under a single credit silo. The firm has also been recognised by American Lawyer with a #3 ranking in the 2019 edition of its “A-List” of elite US law firms.