May 13, 2006
Willkie team assists initial purchasers in series of securities offerings by Swiss Reinsurance Company that raised $3 billion to partially fund Swiss Re's $6.8 billion acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions.
A multidisciplinary team of Willkie attorneys recently advised the initial purchasers in a series of innovative securities offerings by Swiss Reinsurance Company that raised $3 billion to partially fund Swiss Re's $6.8 billion acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions. The offerings included (i) a 144A and Regulation S rights and global share offering raising approximately $1 billion, (ii) a 144A and Regulation S offering of perpetual subordinated step-up guaranteed preferred securities (issued through Swiss Re Capital I LP) raising $750 million and (iii) a Regulation S offering of perpetual step-up notes (issued through ELM B.V.) raising approximately $1.25 billion.
The initial purchasers/underwriters included the following participants: (i) for the rights and global offering, lead underwriters BNP PARIBAS, Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank and co-leads Caylon, Fox-Pitt, Kelton and Lehman Brothers, (ii) for the U.S. hybrid offering, lead underwriters Banc of America Securities LLC, JPMorgan, UBS Investment Bank and co-leads Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Securities and (iii) for the Euro hybrid offering, lead underwriters Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, HSBC, UBS Investment Bank and co-leads ABN AMRO and Merrill Lynch International.
The Willkie team includes partners John D’Alimonte, Gregory Astrachan, Serge Benchetrit, Barry Barbash, Frank Daniele, Leslie Mazza, Richard Reinhold; special European counsel Jon Lyman; and associates Nicole Napolitano, Suzanne Sylvester, Jonathan Gatsik, Andrew Mariniello, Christopher Peters and Marc Ponchione.
