McGuireWoods Advises Wells Fargo Bank in Record $75 Billion Syndicated Loan for Global Beer Merger

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Nov 18, 2015, 12:08 ET

LONDON, Nov. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A London-based McGuireWoods team advised Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in connection with its participation in a $75 billion loan facility that will finance Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's bid to acquire SABMiller Plc. Wells Fargo is among a group of banks involved in the transaction, which is the largest commercial loan on record in the global loan markets.

The syndicated loan is essential to AB InBev's planned acquisition of SABMiller, a deal that would create a global brewing giant responsible for nearly 30 percent of the world's beer market. The merger, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

McGuireWoods lawyers Marc Isaacs, Coraline Fourniols and Katie Steven advised Wells Fargo on the transaction.

"We are proud of the trust Wells Fargo has placed in us and were delighted to have a role in the largest-ever commercial loan in the global markets," said Isaacs, who heads the firm's London debt finance team. "This is yet another example of the significant work McGuireWoods is doing worldwide in syndicated debt finance."

For the first half of 2015, McGuireWoods ranked third in number of deals and sixth in dollar volume in Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.'s U.S. Lender Law Firm League Tables for its representation of lead arrangers and bookrunners in syndicated debt financings. McGuireWoods has finished each of the last four years ranked among the top 10 U.S. law firms in the league tables that debt finance professionals consider definitive.

McGuireWoods LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.mcguirewoods.com. Its full-service public affairs arm, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, offers infrastructure and economic development, strategic communications and grassroots advocacy, and government relations solutions.

SOURCE McGuireWoods LLP