Simpson Thacher represented the Brazilian subsidiaries of Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners, in connection with a Brazilian syndicated unsecured term loan facility to SKY Serviços de Banda Larga Ltda. (“Sky”) in an aggregate principal amount in Brazilian reais equivalent to US$1 billion (approximately R$3.3 billion). Sky is the main Brazilian operating subsidiary of DIRECTV Latin America, the Latin American digital entertainment services unit of AT&T. The loan transaction is part of a series of debt and equity financings, including a $1 billion bond financing and an initial public offering of equity in Vrio Corp., an indirect parent of Sky.
Vrio Corp., through its subsidiaries, is a leading provider of digital entertainment services in South America, with approximately 13.6 million subscribers in 11 countries and more than 12,000 employees across the region. Vrio provides services in Brazil through the SKY brand and in Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Curaçao, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela through the DIRECTV brand.
The Simpson Thacher team included Jaime Mercado, Kirsten Davis and Natalia Merlussi (Capital Markets); Soogy Lee and Ronnie Lim (Credit); and Jonathan Cantor and Pierce Pandolph (Tax).