Consortium advises in Syndicated Loan to AJEGROUP

Citibank NA and other Lenders granted a syndicated loan to Aje Group and its affiliates in order to restructure several lines of credit.  The funds will be granted to Grupo Embotellador Atic S.A. from Spain and Ajeper S.A. from Peru. It consists of a senior secured multicurrency term loan facility. Several affiliates will act as guarantors in the jurisdictions of México, Perú, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, etc.

This transaction was challenging due to many factors. It involved several parties, including Citibank as Lender, the Aje entities as Borrowers, The Bank Of New York Mellon as Administrative Agent and Calculation Agent, Wilmington Trust, National Association as Collateral Agent Scotiabank Peru S.A.A. as Peruvian Paying Agent, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. as Sole Lead Arranger and Sole Bookrunner.  All these parties had to review and agree on the terms of the documents, with the proper assistance of legal counsels. The transaction also involved several jurisdictions, such as United States, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, etc.  The Credit Agreement was subject to NY law and the parent company and the local subsidiaries of Aje in Latin America acted as guarantors. The local subsidiaries also granted security on their assets. These security agreements had to be drafted under local laws, so there were several regulations that had to be coordinated to close the transaction. The security also involved different types of assets, which required to structure each document under special regulations, including properties, machinery and equipment, trademarks, etc.

Partners Rodrigo Taboada, Mario Quesada and Alvaro Castellanos led the teams at Consortium Legal in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala respectively.

Citi and the other lenders retained Milbank as international counsel. Clifford Chance advised Aje Group as International Counsel.