Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Boyanov & Co. have advised Bulgarian telecommunications company Vivacom on the refinancing of its EUR 400 million worth of senior secured notes from a syndicate of more than a dozen financial institutions. The banks were represented by Allen & Overy.
According to a Vivacom press release, “the financial terms of the new financing are significantly more favorable to the company than those of the Senior Secured Notes, which would allow Vivacom to focus on its development program with further investments in network infrastructure and the quality of its services.” The company also noted that Moody’s Investors Service has recently upgraded the long-term credit rating of Vivacom to from B1 to Ba3. According to Vivacom, "the higher rating reflects the company''s solid performance and its position as a leading telecom operator in Bulgaria with high market shares in fixed-line business, a strong track record of growing mobile market share and revenues, as well as the expectations for further growth and development.”
Freshfields’ Vienna-based English law finance team was led by Principal Associate Blair Day, and Boyanov & Co.’s finance team was led by Partner Damian Simeonov.
Allen & Overy's team included Partner Nicholas Clark, Senior Associate Sunny Wong, and Associate Lila Sujanani.
Editor's Note: After this article was finished, Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevsky informed CEE Legal Matters that it had served as Bulgarian counsel for the U.S. Bank Trustees, the outgoing trustee, and security agent for the repaid noteholders. The firm's team was led by Partner Nikolay Bebov and Senior Associate Viktoria Tzonkova. According to Nikolay Bebov, "back in 2013 our firm acted as local legal counsel for the banks that placed the EUR 400 million bonds, the first high-yield bonds from Bulgaria. At the time we acted, in addition to the underwriting banks, also for U.S. Bank Trustees, as now."
