Allen & Overy Prague has advised joint lead managers J&T Banka, Ceska Sporitelna, Komercni Banka, and UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, and J&T IB and Capital Markets as arrangers, on the Sazka Group's CZK 6 billion bond issuance.
Sazka Group is a pan-European lottery and sports betting operator that operates in Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Italy.
According to Allen & Overy, “the transaction is particularly novel and unique in that the prospectus of these bonds is the first prospectus approved by the Czech National Bank after the new Prospectus Regulation took full effect in July this year. It is also the first transaction on the Czech market with bonds issued as unsecured obligations on the issue date, whilst its terms and conditions contain issuer’s covenant to provide, subject to certain conditions, security for the bonds and, at the same time, appoint a security agent. For that purposes, the terms and conditions of the bonds set out a full spectrum of future rights and obligations of the security agent as creditor and secured creditor vis-à-vis the issuer, security providers and bondholders."
The Allen & Overy team was led by Counsel Petr Vybiral, supported by Associate Tomas Kirner, among others.