Successful syndication of the EUR 3,025,000,000 senior secured multicurrency acquisition facilities for PPF Arena 1 B.V.

The Borrower will serve as the permanent financing platform for technology, media and telecom activities within the PPF Group N.V. (“PPF”). PPF Arena 1 B.V. will have a corporate style financing structure to support the acquisition of 100% of the local entities of Telenor Group in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro (“Telenor CEE”) and for general corporate purposes of the PPF Arena 1 group, consisting of O2 Czech Republic, CETIN and Telenor CEE.

Telenor CEE represents leading mobile operators which enjoy #1 or #2 market positions across their respective countries of operation (Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro), generating revenues of EUR 1.3bn and EBITDA of EUR 438m in 2017 (EBITDA margin of 35%).

The Facilities are split between a Term Loan A (EUR 1,040,000,000 equivalent), Term Loan B tranche (EUR 1,785,000,000 equivalent) and RCF (EUR 200,000,000).

BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV, Crédit Agricole CIB, Česká spořitelna, a.s., HSBC Bank plc, Societe Generale and UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. acted as Global Coordinators and Mandated Lead Arrangers.  BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV, Crédit Agricole CIB, Erste Group Bank AG, HSBC Bank plc, Societe Generale and UniCredit S.p.A. acted as Underwriters and Active Bookrunners in the transaction.

BNP Paribas and Societe Générale acted as Financial Advisors to PPF. Societe Generale and Komercni Banka are acting as Facility Agent and Security Agent of the Facilities respectively.

White & Case and KPMG advised PPF and Allen & Overy advised the Global Coordinators.

Both existing relationship banks and new lenders supported the transaction which closed oversubscribed.

The Facilities represent the largest loan syndication in the CEE region since 2011.