Appleby has advised Eldorado Drilling on financing its acquisition of Cayman Islands-registered Vantage Drilling International Ltd. through a $425 million Nordic bond issue.
Nordic bonds are debt securities issued under the Nordic bond market framework, which is widely used by companies to raise capital from institutional and other professional investors.
Eldorado Drilling BondCo Limited, a Cayman Islands exempted company, issued $425 million in 9.125% senior secured bonds, with proceeds being used to fund the acquisition, refinance existing debt at Vantage Drilling and provide money for general corporate purposes, according to Appleby.
Appleby’s debt capital markets team was led by Managing Partner Simon Raftopoulos and included Senior Associate Andrew Barr, Associate April Ebanks and Article Clerk Jordanne Saunders. The law firm said its mergers and acquisitions team separately advised Eldorado on the acquisition of Vantage Drilling.
Fearnley Securities AS acted as sole global coordinator and joint bookrunner on the bond issue. Arctic Securities AS, DNB Carnegie, part of DNB Bank ASA, and Pareto Securities AS also acted as joint bookrunners. The bonds are expected to be listed on Euronext ABM.
Conyers advised Nordic Trustee AS in connection with the bond issue. Its Cayman Islands team was led by Partner Barnabas Finnigan, with support from Rebecca Peck and Diana De Mercado.
