Tegris Advisors Advises on Successful $8 Billion Merger of Liberty Acquisition and Grupo Prisa
By Tegris Advisors Llc, PRNEWednesday, December 15, 2010
Receives accolades on Cross-Border Deal of the Year For the Acquisition of Pearl Group by Liberty International
NEW YORK, December 16, 2010 - Tegris Advisors LLC ("Tegris"), the M&A advisory firm, received both the
Magnus Cross-Border/International Deal of the Year and the Financial Services
(Over $500mm) awards for the Acquisition of Pearl Group by Liberty
Acquisition Holdings (International) Company at the 9th Annual M&A Advisor
Awards.
Tegris also announced the successful completion of the merger of
Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (MCE: PRS.MC; NYSE: PRIS, PRIS.B) ("Prisa"),
the world's leading Spanish and Portuguese-language media group with Liberty
Acquisition Holdings Corporation ("Liberty Acquisition"), a special purpose
acquisition company (SPAC). Tegris served as the exclusive M&A advisor to
Liberty Acquisition on the transaction which closed on November 29, 2010, and
is valued at $8 billion based on the enterprise value for the merged entity.
Tegris advised Liberty Acquisition on all aspects of the acquisition of
Prisa, from target selection to the evaluation of transaction structures, and
the negotiations with several stakeholders. Tegris played a key role in
designing a deal structure that addressed challenging macro-economic and
market conditions as well as specific deal-related complexities.
Martin E. Franklin, former chair of Liberty Acquisition, said, "Prisa's
strong brand assets have been attractive for some time, but the number of
complexities posed by the re-equitization of Prisa had vexed many financial
institutions for years. Tegris's ingenuity and tenacity were crucial in
designing an innovative and truly elegant solution that was satisfactory to
all stakeholders."
Rene-Pierre Azria, President and CEO of Tegris, said, "The successful
completion of the Liberty Acquisition merger with Prisa demonstrates the
importance of having an experienced deal advisory team that can navigate
cultures as well as capital markets. We are very pleased to have been able to
play a critical role in this seminal $8 billion transaction."
In developing the deal structure, Liberty Acquisition and Tegris
introduced several original features, particularly for a transaction
involving a SPAC, which helped ensure the deal's successful completion,
including:
-- The receipt of received newly issued Prisa Non Voting Convertible Shares (NVCS), as part of the consideration, by Liberty Acquisition shareholders. This new Prisa structured instrument includes an embedded protection mechanism triggered in 3 1/2 years to mitigate a hypothetical drop in the Prisa share price, hence increasing deal certainty by protecting value over the medium-term for Liberty Acquisition shareholders. -- Distribution of new Prisa warrants to existing Prisa shareholders. These warrants cushion existing Prisa shareholders from dilution, by providing them the option to invest in new Prisa shares within the next 3 1/2 years at a predetermined price. -- Concurrent private placement of $500 million of new Liberty Acquisition preferred stock to certain prominent investors. Liberty Acquisition introduced this innovative element to accommodate potential redemptions by its shareholders. Liberty Acquisition received capital commitments from Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, Liberty Acquisition's founders, and from institutional investors including HSBC Bank, Tyrus Capital, Centaurus Capital, Banco Santander and Pentwater, to acquire up to $500 million of shares which would otherwise come up for redemption, thereby again increasing deal certainty.
The transaction was completed on November 29th, following the Liberty
Acquisition shareholders vote to approve the merger on November 24th by an
overwhelming majority. Prisa shareholders voted to approve the transaction as
well as a new board of directors which includes Mr. Berggruen and Mr.
Franklin, on November 27th. At closing, the former shareholders of Liberty
Acquisition collectively owned the majority of Prisa shares. The Prisa shares
issued in the business combination are listed for trading on the Madrid Stock
Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (PRIS and PRIS.B) through ADRs
(American Depositary Receipts).
About Tegris Advisors
Tegris is an advisory firm based in New York and active in M&A and
re-equitization. Since its formation in 2007, Tegris has advised on over $15
billion of large, complex transactions. Tegris created an international
advisory alliance which includes Aforge Finance (Paris), Bank Degroof
(Brussels) and DVR Capital (Milan). Through this alliance, Tegris provides
cross-border advisory services with teams based in the US, France, Belgium,
Italy and Poland. For additional information, please visit
www.tegris.com.
For further information, please contact: Rene-Pierre Azria Founder, President and CEO, Tegris Advisors 375 Park Avenue, 16th Floor New York, NY 10152 Tel.: +1-212-488-5314 Email: tegris@tegris.com Web: www.tegris.com
Rene-Pierre Azria, Founder, President and CEO, Tegris Advisors, +1-212-488-5314, tegris at tegris.com
Tags: December 16, France, Italy, New York, Tegris Advisors Llc, United Kingdom