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Litigation funder gets its advice from G+T
Gilbert + Tobin has advised litigation funder IMF Bentham on the restructuring of its existing listed bonds and conditional placement of new listed bonds to sophisticated and professional investors.
Grace Ormsby
Firm: Gilbert + Tobin (IMF Bentham Limited)
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Deal: Gilbert + Tobin has advised IMF Bentham on the restructuring of its existing listed bonds and conditional placement of new listed IMF Bentham Bonds.
Value: The conditional placement of new listed IMF Bentham Bonds are valued at $41.4 million.
Area: Litigation funding, corporate
Key players: Gilbert + Tobin’s bond restructuring team was led by special counsel Louise McCoach, with support from graduate Johnathon Geagea, while partner Rachael Bassil was aided by lawyer Kathryn O’Brien on the conditional bond placement side of the deal.
Deal significance: IMF Bentham is a litigation funding company headquartered in Australia.
The advice given by Gilbert + Tobin encompassed a successful restructure of existing listed bonds and a $41.4 million conditional placement of new listed bonds.
The conditional bond placement “was conducted to fund redemptions associated with the bond restructure and to fund growth initiatives and allow greater financial flexibility for IMF’s balance sheet”, the firm said.
The conditional bond placement was “conditional on approval of the bond restructure by existing IMF Bentham bondholders”, it continued.
According to Gilbert + Tobin, IMF “conducted the conditional bond placement without a prospectus in reliance on the cleansing statement regime under section 708A(5)(a) of the Corporations Act”.
Bonds issued under the conditional bond placement are in the same class, rank equally and are “fully fungible” with existing bonds on issue, it was noted.
The restructure resulted in amendments to the bonds’ terms, which included extension of their maturity date to 22 December 2022, and the introduction of a first issuer call date of 8 January 2022.
A step up in margin of 1.0 per cent will also apply from 1 January 2022 and updates have been made to the covenant package to include additional investor protections, Gilbert + Tobin explained.
Acacia Partners acted as debt capital markets advisers to IMF on the restructure and bond placement.
IMF general counsel Jeremy Sambrook said it was a great project to be part of, and thinks “there are exciting times ahead for our business and the industry”.
“Acacia and G+T have played a strong hand in getting us through a complex debt transaction,” he concluded.
