Wolf Theiss has announced that it has advised the Slovenian Pivovarna Lasko brewery on a EUR 300 million debt restructuring.
The brewery entered into a standstill and restructuring agreement with as many as 18 banks – among them the Slovenian NLB, Hypo Alpe Adria Bank, and Abanka – representing EUR 330 million of the beverage group’s debt. On the part of the beverage group, Pivovarna Lasko, Pivovarna Union, and Radenska signed the agreement with the banks. The restructuring is M&A-driven and is based on a divestiture of the group’s assets – such as the group’s shares in Mercator, Radenska and Delo – and on the anticipated entrance of an investor. Negotiating the deal, Wolf Theiss advised the beverage group on all relevant legal aspects of the debt restructuring, including the conditions of further lending, other contractual commitments, corporate changes, and questions of financial law.
Dusan Zorko, CEO of the Pivovarna Lasko Group, stated: “Signing the restructuring agreement with all these lenders was a huge and important step for us. It took more than a year of intense preparation and negotiations to come to this result that secures the future of our group. We would not have succeeded in achieving this outcome without Wolf Theiss, who contributed with their overall commitment, international experience and local knowledge. They performed outstandingly.”
Markus Bruckmuller, head of the Slovenian practice of Wolf Theiss, commented: “The agreed solution with the banks not only constitutes an important step forward for the beverage group, but also sends a very strong signal to the Slovenian economy, where they and their banks play a significant role. It was a challenge to align so many diverse interests. Together, we were able to demonstrate that this is, indeed, doable even in the present market environment. All people involved in the deal can be very proud of that achievement.”
Wolf Theiss's team was led by Partners Bruckmuller and Nikolaus Paul, assisted by Senior Associate Klara Miletic.
Financial advisor to the beverage group was A.T.Kearney. The steering committee of the lenders was represented by Schoenherr.
