White & Case acts for WOM on inaugural bond issue

White & Case has acted for Chilean mobile telecommunications operator WOM (Kenbourne Invest, which trades as WOM), on its inaugural $450 million high-yield bond issue and entry into a new $200-million-equivalent pari passu senior credit facilities, which will together provide WOM with an aggregate $650 million (equivalent).

“We have advised WOM on this groundbreaking financing, which brought the best of the international leveraged finance market to Chile,” White & Case partner Jill Concannon (pictured) said, who co-led the firm’s deal team.

WOM is a portfolio company of London-based investment firm Novator.

“We’ve advised long-standing client Novator on an important strategic step,” White & Case partner Ian Bagshaw said, who also participated in the deal team. “This transaction has showcased the firm’s leading borrower financing capabilities.”

White & Case previously advised Novator on its acquisition of a 92-per cent stake in Nextel Chile, which rebranded as WOM in 2015, as well as various refinancings since 2015.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was co-led by partners Jill Concannon and Ian Bagshaw and included partners Colin Harley and Ingrid York (all in London) and Taisa Markus, Ian Cuillerier and Ray Simon (all in New York), counsel Willem Van de Wiele and local partner Habiba Boughaba (both in Brussels), associates Ben von Maur, Nicola Chapman, Claudia Hasbun, Brian Dearing, Elena Ruggiu, Janam Nagra and Nathaniel Crowley (all in London), Rhys Bortignon and Kyle Ezzedine (both in New York), Aurelie Terlinden (Brussels) and Ricardo Pous Fritz (Mexico City).