Allen & Overy received the “IFLR Czech Republic Law Firm of the year” award at the 18th Annual IFLR European Awards gala.
The awards, which recognise the most innovative deals, teams, firms and advisors in the industry, were held at the Savoy hotel in London last night. IFLR is the industry leader for awarding legal innovation.
We advised Česká spořitelna as the lead manager, fiscal, paying, calculation and security agent, in relation to the CZK699mn standalone secured and guaranteed Czech (domestic) bond issuance by the Polish MCI Group, a leading Polish private equity group. This was an issuance of Czech law governed bonds under a prospectus and terms and conditions approved by the Czech National Bank involving cross-border security and guarantee package provided to investors. For the first time, under Czech law there was created a security using parallel debt – a concept so far known in particular in English law.
The Allen & Overy team was led by partner Václav Valvoda and senior associates Silvie Horáčková and Petr Vybíral, who were supported by Tomáš Kafka and Martin Bytčanek in Prague and other members of the team from Allen & Overy offices in Poland and Turkey.
The award follows Allen & Overy’s success in 2013, where the firm won the Czech Republic IFLR award for its advisory role on the issuance of the first international Czech covered bond programme.
Allen & Overy had a great year in 2016, reflected by its appearance on the highest number of shortlisted deals. Among its highlights were pivotal roles on the Nykredit senior resolution notes and AB InBev corporate bonds, as well as on innovative offerings by Virgin Media, IHO Holding, Ziggo and Perstorp. The Enav IPO broke new ground in Europe and the WIND/3 JV set a gold standard in competition strategy. Towd Point and Virgin Media set new precedents in securitisations.