Ropes & Gray Advises Liberty Servicios Fijos LY on the largest Sustainability-Linked Bond for the Digital Infrastructure sector in Costa Rica

Ropes & Gray has advised Liberty Servicios Fijos LY (formerly known as Cabletica), a subsidiary of Liberty Latin America, on a $450 million financing package provided by IDB Invest. The financing package consisted of a $50 million A Loan and a $400 million B Loan/B-Bond structure. The B Loan/B-Bond structure was financed by a special purpose entity that acted as a participant in the IDB Invest B Loan and funded its participation through the issuance of $400 million Sustainability-Linked Senior Secured Notes due 2031 to investors in the international debt capital markets in accordance with Rule 144A and Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

With respect to the sustainability features, the financing was structured in accordance with Liberty Servicios Fijos LY’s newly established Sustainable Finance Framework, which is aligned with ICMA’s Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles. A second-party opinion was issued by Moody’s ESG Solutions, and the target baseline was verified by Cameron-Cole.

Liberty Servicios Fijos LY is a subsidiary of Liberty Latin America providing fixed and mobile telecommunications services to residential and B2B customers in Costa Rica. Liberty Servicios Fijos LY offers customers a comprehensive set of converged mobile, broadband, video and fixed-line telephony services and as of September 30, 2022, it had 267,000 internet subscribers, 204,800 video subscribers, 204,800 fixed-telephony subscribers and 2,922,200 mobile subscribers.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by finance partners Jane Rogers and Rob Haak, with counsel Alex Mocanu and finance associates Luwam Mezue, Clara Melly, Sonali Kapoor, Lucrezia Sperzani, Priyambada Das, Alma Yasin and Facundo Nazur, all based in London.

Ropes & Gray’s London finance team is a leading legal adviser in public and private high yield and leveraged loan markets, involving both the large cap and mid-market space. They are one of a select group of firms with on-the-ground London capability to execute high-yield bond offerings and term loan facilities under both English and New York law. This provides clients with cross-border and cross-product expertise with the flexibility and responsiveness of being in the same time zone. Coupled with the international capabilities, they are able to advise on all forms of leveraged finance transactions across capital structures and jurisdictions, providing seamless coverage across products and time zones. In particular, their extensive experience in Rule 144A/Regulation S high-yield debt offerings across industries and geographies ensures rapid execution with a nuanced ability to navigate complex issues. Ropes & Gray’s London finance team is also committed to supporting issuers and borrowers in promoting their sustainable finance objectives and complex legal structures and has a depth of knowledge and experience in this area.