International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy is representing Nomura, Morgan Stanley and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA as lead arrangers for a senior unsecured bridge loan for Grifols S.A., a multinational public healthcare company. As a leading producer of plasma medicines, Grifols has a presence in more than 100 countries and is the world leader in plasma collection, with 150 plasma donation centers across the U.S. The company is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain and employs more than 11,000 people worldwide. In 2012, Grifols’ sales exceeded 2,620 million euros.
The proceeds of the debt financing will be used to finance in part Grifols’ acquisition of Novartis Diagnostics, a business unit of the publicly traded Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company, for $1.675 billion.
The acquisition is designed to expand Grifols’s diagnostics division especially in the United States. The deal will be structured through Grifols’s Diagnostic Division, which is a newly created subsidiary and one that Grifols estimates will have revenues approaching $1 billion on closing of the acquisition or 20% of total group income. Currently the division is responsible for 4% of income. Closing is expected in the first half of 2014.
The Milbank Global Leveraged Finance team is led by partner Marcus Dougherty and includes Sarah Griffin and Laura Larsen. The Securities team is led by partner Peter Schwartz and includes Jonathan Jackson and Anna Lumijarvi. Also providing advice on various points in the transaction are: Intellectual Property partner Lawrence Kass, Employee Benefits partner Joel Krasnow and associate Robin Hezskel and Tax partner Andrew Walker and associate Lysondra Ludwig.
