Gleiss Lutz advised the Honsel Group in connection with its refinancing, which meanfully closed in July 2007. The Honsel Group is a leading supplier of automotive components with production sites in Germany, France, Brazil and Canada. RHJ International S.A., an independent listed entity originally established by the private equity house Ripplewood, has a majority equity stake in the Honsel Group.
The new financing, arranged by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, comprises EUR 335 million revolving and term senior facilities, a EUR 75 million mezzanine facility and a EUR 70 million PIK facility. The senior and mezzanine facilities each benefit from guarantees and security provided by various members of the Honsel Group. As part of the refinancing, the Honsel Group also received a further EUR 40 million equity contribution from its existing shareholders and issued equity warrants to the lenders of the PIK facility.
The Honsel Group has received German law advice on the refinancing by a team of Gleiss Lutz lawyers, comprising Dr. Burkhard Jäkel, Maximilian von Rom, Vanessa Bayliss (all Banking and Finance), Dr. Jan Bauer, Dr. Cornelius Götze, Dr. Andreas Spahlinger and Dr. Thorsten Gayk (all Corporate/M&A) as well as Dr. Stefanie Beinert and Natalie Schweda (both tax). The Honsel Group received UK and US law advice from Slaughter and May and from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, respectively, with whom Gleiss Lutz has been working closely together for years, Belgian law advice from Gleiss Lutz’ alliance partner Stibbe, Canadian law advice from Bennett Jones and French law advice from Bredin Prat.
In 2004 Gleiss Lutz advised US Private Equity Investor Ripplewood on the acquisition of Honsel Group from Carlyle and in 2007 on the acquisition of the publishing house Reader’s Digest.
Forward
