Pete Coulton is head of the firm’s European banking practice. He advises on a wide range of financing transactions, with a particular focus on leveraged acquisition and event-driven financings.

Bio

Mr. Coulton represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, corporate borrowers, banks and alternative lenders on complex multijurisdictional financings across all tiers of the capital structure, including syndicated senior and second lien facilities, unitranche facilities, ABL facilities, holdco PIK facilities, capital call facilities, real estate financings, distressed financings and workouts.

Mr. Coulton has repeatedly been recognised in leading legal directories, including Chambers, IFLR1000, The Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal – Banking.

Representative transactions include:

  • Adevinta ASA in connection with the financing of its $9.2 billion acquisition of eBay’s classifieds business
  • Agroberries (a company invested in by Continental Grain Company) on its investment in BerryWorld’s EMEA and Asia-Pacific businesses
  • Arrow Global in connection with various financings for its first pan-European NPL Fund, the Arrow Credit Opportunities Fund
  • BillerudKorsnäs AB in connection with the financing of its acquisition of Verso Corporation
  • Castik Capital in connection with the financing of its acquisitions of:
    • ipan and Delegate
    • Element Logic
    • AddSecure
    • TBAuctions
  • Central Group and SIGNA Group on the financing of their £4 billion acquisition of the Selfridges chain of department stores
  • the Ferrero family office and related investment vehicles in connection with the financing of its acquisitions of:
    • Ferrara Candy Company
    • Nestlé’s U.S. confectionary assets and related intellectual property
    • Kelsen Group AS from Campbell Soup Company
    • Fox’s Biscuits Limited
  • the Ferrero family office and related investment vehicles in connection with a €1.5 billion margin loan facility
  • F.I.L.A. – Fabbrica Italiana Lapis ed Affini SpA in connection with the financing of its acquisitions of:
    • Daler-Rowney
    • the ARCHES fine arts business
  • Healthpeak Properties Inc. (formerly HCP, Inc.) in connection with various financings, including the senior debt facilities for Formation Capital’s acquisition of the NHP Group;
  • H.I.G. Capital in connection with:
    • the term loan and ABL facilities related to its acquisition of the heating and plumbing division of Travis Perkins PLC
    • the financing of its subsequent acquisition of SHPEP Limited, trading under the Plumbworld brand
  • IPI Partners, LLC:
    • in connection with the financing of its acquisition of Safe Host SA, a leader in the Swiss data centre market
    • in the financing for the construction and fit-out of a purpose-built 5.6MW data centre near Milan, Italy, for its portfolio company Supernap Italia
  • JAB Holdings in connection with various term loan and revolving credit facilities for JAB and its investment vehicles and portfolio companies
  • JDE Peet’s N.V. in the €6.5 billion refinancing of its existing indebtedness
  • Silver Lake Partners in connection with the financing of its acquisitions of:
    • Grupo BC, a leader in banking and property outsourcing services
    • Silae SAS, a cloud-based payroll and HR software specialist
    • Groupe Meilleurtaux, a leading French online and mobile financial services provider
  • Citibank Europe plc as mandated lead arranger of the $1.2 billion term loan facility for Qatar Aluminium Limited, the joint venture vehicle of Qatar Petroleum and Norsk Hydro ASA

Credentials

Education

  • LL.B., Macquarie University, Sydney, 1997
  • B.A., Macquarie University, Sydney, 1995

Admissions

  • Solicitor, England & Wales
  • Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Australia)

Pete Coulton