The firm continues its trend of successfully guiding multijurisdictional capital raisings
DLA Piper has successfully advised on a $225m multijurisdictional deal that saw the firm’s Australia and Singapore teams combine their legal know-how.
The firm guided ASX-listed Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited (WHSP) on an offering of unsecured senior convertible notes. The notes are due in 2026 and were included in the Official List of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
WHSP applied approximately $200m of the funds raised to decrease its average cost of debt through paying down existing debt. The move also boosts the company’s debt maturity profile.
The rest of the proceeds will go towards bolstering the liquidity position of WHSP as the oldest listed investment house and the second-oldest listed company in Australia. The company’s portfolio consists of investments in a variety of fields, including pharmaceuticals, property, mining, telecoms and financial services.
DLA Piper lead partner David Ryan pointed out that convertible notes offerings are an increasingly common funding source in the country. For this cross-border deal, the Sydney-based corporate partner teamed up with corporate partner Philip Lee, who operates from the firm’s Singapore office.
The partners were supported by lawyers across different practices, with finance partner Onno Bakker, tax partner Eddie Ahn, special counsel Kelly Morrison, senior associate Elliott Cheung, associate Mei Sum Chan and paralegal Katherine Keene joining the team.
DLA Piper has played roles in a number of cross-border deals over the past year – recently, the lawyers in the firm’s Australia and Spain offices collaborated on the acquisition of ASX-listed renewable energy company Infigen Energy by Spanish utility company Iberdrola.
“[The current deal] is another example of DLA Piper’s growing track record in successfully executing complex multi-jurisdictional capital raising transactions, often within tight windows,” Ryan said.
The Australia branch of UBS AG served as the sole bookrunner and lead manager on the convertible notes offering.
