Thomas Smith is an English-qualified partner in the Finance Group of the London office. Recommended by Chambers UK (2024), The Legal 500 UK (2024) and ...
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Experience
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Leveraged and General Financing
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in the financing aspects of its acquisitions of Atalian and OCS to create a global facilities management platform.
- Glendower Capital in the financing aspects of its strategic partnership with CVC, creating a combined group with total assets under management of approximately €113 billion.
- Park Square Capital in the formation of Park Square Capital Partners IV, a €2.2 billion subordinated debt fund.
- Resolution Life, a global life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of life insurance policies, in the financing aspects of its $1.25 billion acquisition of Voya Financial’s individual life in-force business.
- Pret a Manger in the financing aspects of its acquisition of EAT, a British food and drink retailer.
- Resolution Life, a global life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of life insurance policies, in the financing aspects of its revised AUS$3.0 billion acquisition of AMP Life.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in the financing aspects of various acquisitions as well as refinancings, repricings, recapitalisations and bids, including BUT (in a partnership transaction with WM Holding, a company related to the XXXLutz Group), SPIE, Motor Fuel Group, Mauser Group, B&M Retail, Exova and BCA.
- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and various portfolio companies, including B&M Retail, SPIE and Exova, in the financing aspects of their initial public offering.
- The purchasers of first lien senior secured notes privately placed by an Italian based manufacturer of coffee, other hot and cold beverage and food vending machines to finance an acquisition.
- Sacturino in its $5.5 billion loan facility for its take-private acquisition of Polyus Gold (valuing the company at approximately $9 billion).
- Kelso & Company in the financing aspects of its acquisition of US LBM Holdings, a building products distributor, from BlackEagle Partners.
- US LBM in the issuance of incremental borrowings under its term loan and ABL revolving facilities for the purpose of material acquisitions.
- Oaktree Capital Management in the finance aspects of its restructuring of its investment in Viken, a distressed Norwegian shipping group.
- Rank Group in the financing aspects of its acquisition of the SIG Group, a Swiss-based packaging company. The financing consisted of senior facilities of €825 million in aggregate, a subordinated bridge facility of €770 million and a €900 million high-yield bond facility.
- Reynolds Group in the financing aspects of its acquisition of Reynolds Consumer Products and Closure Systems International and associated financings and refinancings, a group of transactions valued at $3.2 billion.
- UCI in its up to $125 million senior secured asset-based revolving credit facility.
- A leading international asset manager in the restructuring by the Greek government of its sovereign debt.
- NLMK in its $1.6 billion pre-export credit facility.
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Fund Financing
- Glendower Capital in the financing aspects of the formation of its Secondary Opportunities Fund V, a $5.8 billion global secondary private equity fund.
- 17Capital and a syndicate of lenders in its €400 million NAV facility to a UK private equity sponsor.
- 17Capital and a syndicate of lenders in its €1.1 billion NAV facility to a UK private equity sponsor.
- A European credit fund in its €375 million NAV facility with Credit Suisse and a syndicate of lenders, structured as a securitization.
- Goldman Sachs in its $65 million NAV facility to a Dubai-based single-family office.
- A European alternative investment firm in its $400 million subscription facility.
- A global investment manager in its €75 million NAV facility.
- A large European secondaries fund in its up to $2.5 billion NAV facility at SPV level providing for term debt.
- Institutional lender in its up to €250 million NAV facility with a leading private equity sponsor.
- An infrastructure fund managed by EQT in a subscription facility of initially €2.7 billion (with an upper limit of around €5 billion) with a large club of lenders. The facility incorporates innovative environmental, social and governance mechanics, which impact the margin payable to the lenders.
- A flagship private equity fund managed by EQT in a subscription facility of initially more than €2.3 billion (with an upper limit of €5 billion) with a large club of lenders. The facility incorporates innovative environmental, social and governance mechanics, which impact the margin payable to the lenders. At the transaction date, it is the first ESG-linked subscription facility of this size across the global fund finance markets. The work was recognised by the British Legal Awards in naming Debevoise as its Banking and Finance Team of the Year.
- FountainVest in its subscription line facility with CitiBank for FountainVest China Capital Partners Fund III.
- A Morgan Stanley-managed private equity fund in its $50 million NAV facility with Standard Chartered Bank.
- A leading European mid-market buyout fund in its £165 million subscription line facility.
- Capital call facilities for Tishman Speyer, Apera Capital, Leapfrog Investments, Fountainvest, Metric Capital Partners, VWH, Avanath, and multiple European, Asian and U.S. funds.
- A U.S.-based international infrastructure fund in its $1.5 billion syndicated hybrid facility secured by capital call rights and distributions from portfolio investments.
- A Glendower Capital secondary opportunities fund in its hybrid facility with a syndicate of lenders.
- A Morgan Stanley-managed private equity fund in its $70 million capital call facility with Bangkok Bank.
- A private equity fund managed by EQT in €3.23 billion of subscription line facilities with a club of fourteen lenders.
- Funds managed by EQT in multiple subscription line facilities, including an infrastructure fund in €1.2 billion of subscription facilities, a mid-market equity fund in €400 million of subscription facilities, a credit opportunities fund in €160 million of subscription facilities, a credit opportunities fund in €300 million of subscription facilities, a venture capital fund in €125 million of subscription facilities together with a separate FX facility, a European mid-market credit fund (structured to include a Luxembourg securitization vehicle) in €79 million of subscription facilities, and a European mid-market credit fund in €208 million of subscription facilities using an umbrella structure.
- Park Square in multiple subscription line facilities, including its €250 million subscription line facility with Wells Fargo, its $100 million subscription facility with Wells Fargo and SMBC, its $125 million subscription line facility with Wells Fargo and SMBC, and its €125 million subscription line facility with SMBC.
- Park Square in multiple SMA facilities, including its £30 million SMA facility with Wells Fargo and SMBC, its $100 million SMA facility with Wells Fargo and SMBC, and its $25 million SMA facility with SMBC.
- A secondary opportunities fund in its hybrid NAV/capital call facility of around $170 million, providing for a combination of term and revolving debt, among other things, to refinance an existing capital call facility.
- HarbourVest Partners in the financing aspects of its $806 million acquisition of Absolute Private Equity, a Swiss publicly listed investment fund.
- Various TRS and repo financing transactions for funds managed by EQT.
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High Yield Debt
- BUT in the issuance of €380 million 5.5% high yield bonds due 2024 in connection with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s acquisition (in a 50:50 partnership with WM Holding, a company related to the XXXLutz Group).
- SPIE in its €375 million offering of 11% senior notes due 2019.
- Exova in its £155 million high-yield offering of 10.5% senior notes.
- Reynolds Group in the issuance by certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries of $1 billion of senior secured notes and $1 billion of unsecured notes and the subsequent refinancing of its senior secured credit facilities.
- Reynolds Group in the $3 billion senior secured and unsecured notes issuance and $2.02 billion term loan senior secured financing to finance its $6 billion acquisition of Pactiv.
Education
- Nottingham Law School, 2003, L.P.C.
- Nottingham Law School, 2002, LL.B.