IFLR Americas Awards recognize Hogan Lovells as 'High Yield Team of the Year'

The awards celebrate legal innovation in multi-jurisdictional transactions, and in 2023, the research process again saw a record-breaking number of submissions from banks and law firms across the continent. Read more about the awards here.

Hogan Lovells advised The Central America Bottling Corporation (“CBC" ), CBC Bottling Holdco, S.L., and Beliv Holdco, S.L., as co-issuers (the “Co-Issuers”) in connection with (i) a Rule 144A and Regulation S offering of US$1.1 billion aggregate principal amount of the Co-Issuers’ 5.250 percent Senior Guaranteed Sustainability-Linked Notes due 2029 (the “Offering”) and (ii) a successful concurrent tender offer and consent solicitation relating to, and subsequent redemption of, CBC’s outstanding 5.750% Senior Guaranteed Notes due 2027.

The Offering was the first US dollar-denominated sustainability-linked bond (“SLB”) in the international markets from a bottling company in the Americas. The Offering was also the first sustainability-linked bond by a Central American issuer and the second largest single tranche SLB by a Latin American issuer ever. 

The trans-Atlantic Hogan Lovells team was led by partners Ben Garcia (New York) and Jorge Diaz-Silveira (Miami), with counsel Meredith Hines (New York) and international consultant Pedro Martinez (Miami). Advising on the tax aspects of the deal was Washington, D.C., partner Scott Lilienthal. In Madrid, the team included partner Juan Garicano and counsel Alejandro González, with senior associates Alejandro Moscoso del Prado and Carlos Meijide, and associates María Santana and Laura Wouters. 

This transaction was also recognized as the Corporate ESG Deal of the Year by LatinFinance at its 2022 Deals of the Year Awards, as well as “ESG Bond Deal of the Year” by Bonds & Loans Latin America & Caribbean in 2022.

In addition to the distinction in IFLR’s high yield category, the firm was shortlisted as a “Securitization and structured finance Team of the Year” and in the “Securitization and structured finance Deal of the Year” category for its work advising the National Commercial Bank Jamaica on an issuance under its merchant voucher securitization program. The deal team was led by New York capital markets partner Emil Arca, and included counsel Russell Slanover, associate Lauren Kimmel and law clerk Zachary Suggs.

The Hogan Lovells capital markets team has deep experience advising issuers and underwriters with various types of debt offerings, including senior and subordinated debt, convertible notes, covered, unsecured and secured debt, medium-term notes, loan participation notes, high-yield debt, sovereign and government-linked debt, commercial paper and CD programs, project bonds, a wide range of securitized and other structured-debt products, liability management transactions, and other types of debt offerings.