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| L-R: Yong Jae Chang of Lee & Ko, David Grimm of Paul Hastings, Betty Yap of Linklaters, Sky Yang of Bae Kim & Lee, Anthony Choi of Simpson Thacher, Urs Fankhauser of Sullivan & Cromwell and Seong-Koo Cheong of Kim & Chang. |
Deals of the year
WINNER: KKR and Affinity/Oriental Brewery
KKR and Affinity’s acquisition of Oriental Brewery from InBev in July was not just a landmark deal for Asia, but also globally. The $1.8 billion takeover was the largest in Asia since 2006 and the third largest in the world in 2009, suggesting that leveraged acquisitions could be about to make a comeback.
Upstream guarantees are not possible under Korean law so debt at the acquisition company level was not secured by assets, but by the target’s shares. Four separate facilities were provided to the company – two offshore and two onshore at HoldCo and OpCo level – which were...