At the 2007 IFLR awards, Bonn Schmitt Steichen was pleased to take home a trophy for its role in the Mittal / Arcelor takeover, which won M&A deal of the year. This year, the firm did even better as it was named the Luxembourg law firm of the year.
The Bonn Schmitt Steichen team picked up their award (see photo left) together with Bonelli Erede Papparlardo, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Selmer - IFLR national winners in Italy, the Netherlands and Norway respectively.
The principal reason for the firm's success was its role on Babcock & Brown – the IFLR project finance deal of the year. This €1.03 billion deal involved the refinancing of a 1678 MW portfolio of wind farms. Babcock & Brown wants to expand and acquire more wind farms so it wanted the ability to access money quickly.
The financing was described as "corporate-styled" and was a first for wind farms. It represents a sophistication of the industry, and other renewable sectors such as solar and wave energy could use this structure in due course. Bonn Schmitt Steichen provided local law advice on Luxembourg matters.
Elsewhere, the firm had a particularly strong year in structured finance. It was heavily involved in the issue of €970 million notes with respect to lease receivables originated by Volkswagen Leasing and on the bridge financing and final issue of mortgage-backed notes originated by Commercial Bank Sovfintrade. Bonn Schmitt Steichen advised the issuer on the first deal and the issuer's parent company (Gazprombank) on the latter.
Finally, the firm was also recognised for its advice to Wilson Sons, which listed $173.5 million of shares on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in connection with an IPO in Brazil.
Methodology
Every year IFLR presents awards in Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East for the most innovative deals of the past 12 months and the firms that worked on them.
There are awards for Deal of the Year in several categories, including equity, debt, M&A, private equity, project finance, securitisation and restructuring, as well as a Team of the Year award for each of these practice areas. In Europe, there is an additional category – structured products. Regional law firms are also recognised for their local law advice on these innovative transactions.
When searching for innovation, IFLR looks for new legal structures, deals that overcome new regulatory hurdles and regional firsts that adapt existing technology to local regulation. The difficulty and intricacy of that innovation is assessed, as well as its likely market impact.
The role of the individual law firm on the deal is also considered in order to decide how much credit the firm should receive towards the Team of the Year awards. So advice on the governing law of the bond counts more than other, local advice. And advising the underwriters is better than advising the rating agencies.
All deals must be international. For capital markets transactions, this means more than 20% of the securities must have been sold to investors outside the home market of the issuer or originator. M&A deals must involve a cross-border element. Project financings must be carried out on an international basis.
Nights of celebration: The IFLR awards
In March the IFLR European Awards were held in the Dorchester Ballroom in London and the Asian awards were held in Hong Kong in the Island Shangri-La Hotel. The US awards are scheduled for April 3 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
In total, almost 1,000 of the world's elite in financial law will have gathered to be rewarded by IFLR for their innovation in 2007. Lawyers in the Middle East will not miss out either. The IFLR Middle East awards are scheduled to be in Dubai this autumn.
IFLR thanks all firms for their help with the research for the awards and for coming along, making each evening so entertaining.
For a full list of winners, please click here