Latham & Watkins advised J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC as initial purchasers in a global offering of US$1.4 billion of 6⅞% Senior Secured Notes due 2024 by VTR Finance, the parent of VTR GlobalCom and VTR Wireless.
VTR is Chile’s largest cable operator by homes passed and number of subscribers; the largest provider of broadband internet services in its footprint and the second largest in Chile by number of subscribers; and the second-largest provider of fixed telephony services in Chile by number of lines. VTR is controlled by Liberty Global, the largest cable company outside the United States, with operations in 14 countries.
The net proceeds of the offering, together with cash on hand, were used to pay outstanding indebtedness in connection with the reorganization of VTR’s operations in Chile as a stand-alone credit pool.
The offering was the largest issuance of debt securities in Chile and tied as the largest issuance of high yield debt securities in Latin America during the thirteen-month period ended January 31, 2014. In 2013, Latham & Watkins acted as counsel on 170 global high yield offerings representing aggregate proceeds of more than US$85 billion.
With company operations in Chile, a Netherlands issuer, pledges of collateral over assets in the United States and a controlling shareholder organized in the United Kingdom, a global team of Latham & Watkins lawyers advised on US and English law matters in the global offering, including partners Roderick Branch, Scott Colwell, and Jocelyn Seitzman; associates Craig Ashford, Manasi Bhattacharyya, Patrick Foley, Matthew Schneider and Phillip Stoup; and international visiting associate José A. Velasco.
