DEAL OF THE WEEK - SANITEC

CMS Cameron McKenna has scooped a major piece of work with BC Partners on the back of its alliance with German member CMS Hasche Sigle Eschenlohr Peltzer Schäfer.
Camerons partner Ashley Painter was brought in to advise BC Partners on UK law for Sanitec's high-yield bond issue.
The e260m (£162.2m) issue will be used to refinance the e245m (£152.8m) junior facilities incurred in the leveraged buyout of Sanitec, a Finnish company that markets bathroom ceramic products.
BC Partners has a virtually exclusive relationship with Dickson Minto in the UK, but this is the second time that Camerons has been brought in to advise on a large capital markets transaction.
In November 2000, it advised alongside Hasche Sigle on the high-yield bond issue by German international water equipment business Grohe.
Hasche Sigle has a long-term relationship with BC Partners and lead partner on the deal Udo Simmat has advised the private equity house for over 10 years. "We've worked a lot with Dickson Minto, but I'm not sure that they advise on these sorts of capital markets transactions," he commented.
Dickson Minto advised on the initial transaction when Sanitec was acquired from Tripod, but then Camerons was brought in to do the high-yield debt.
The instruction is good news for Camerons given that BC Partners is currently one of the more active private equity houses.
Joint lead underwriters on the deal Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch were advised by Latham & Watkins.
The high-yield issue was particularly interesting given the current market. The deal was four times oversubscribed and the interest rate went down to 9 per cent.
Bryant Edwards, who led the deal for Latham, said that its success was a promising sign for the market. "I think the Sanitec deal will help revive the high-yield market in Europe because companies will see that you can raise a significant amount of subordinated debt in the right sectors," he said.
A Thacher Proffitt & Wood team, led by partner Walter Van Dorn, advised BC Partners on US law. The senior debt was financed by HypoVereinsbank, which was advised by Clifford Chance.