The Firm represented Barclays Capital, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Santander Investment and Scotia Capital, as joint book-running managers, in connection with an offering by Altria Group, Inc. of $775 million of 7.125% Notes due 2010. The notes are guaranteed by Philip Morris USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Altria that is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the United States. Altria used the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the consideration in connection with its acquisition this week of UST Inc., a leading moist smokeless tobacco manufacturer.
The Simpson Thacher team for the transaction included, among others, Ed Tolley, Arjun Koshal, Xavier Kowalski and Jason Ewart (Corporate), Jonathan Cantor and Jennifer Klein (Tax), Rachel Berry (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits), Michael Isby (Environmental), Linda Martin and Tamala Boyd (Litigation), Jennifer Rackoff (IP), Fagie Hartman (Labor), and Mark Lab and Andrew Pagliughi (FINRA and Blue Sky).
Simpson Thacher represented various underwriters on U.S. dollar and euro-denominated bond offerings aggregating approximately $17 billion for Altria and its former subsidiary, Philip Morris International Inc., in five transactions in 2008.