Kirkland & Ellis Represents Hastings Insurance Group in £416.5 Million High-Yield Notes Offering

Kirkland & Ellis International LLP represented Hastings Insurance Group in an offering of £266.5 million 8 percent senior secured fixed-rate notes due 2020 and £150 million senior secured floating-rate notes due 2019 to finance the acquisition of a 50-percent stake in Hastings by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division. Hastings is a fast-growing retail car and home insurance business operating in the United Kingdom that provides both insurance broking and underwriting services. The offering was one of the first offerings of high-yield notes by a regulated insurance underwriting business in Europe.

The Kirkland & Ellis team that advised on the offering was led by London-based capital markets partner Ward McKimm and included associates Matthew Merkle, Leah Pinto and Carl Pickerill. Debt finance partners Neel Sachdev and James Crooks and associates Martin Michalski and David Mathews also represented Hastings, including in relation to its entry into a £20 million revolving credit facility. Tax partners Michael Carew and Dulcie Sawle Daly and associates Polina Liberman, Jason Pegnall and Michael Ward also advised on the offering.

Kirkland & Ellis is a 1,600-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex debt finance, corporate/M&A, restructuring and tax, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in London, Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.