DLA Piper advises on EUR385 million refinancing of Olympique Lyonnais Group

DLA Piper has advised Goldman Sachs and several institutional investors on a refinancing package for The Olympique Lyonnais (OL) group totalling EUR385 million. The financing consists of:

• An investment-grade-rated 20 year EUR320 million notes issuance, structured using a French securitisation vehicle, secured by OL’s commercial revenues mainly generated from the Groupama Stadium business. The notes were privately placed with leading institutional investors, mainly in Europe and the United States.
• A five year term and revolving credit facility totaling EUR65 million, advanced to OL by a pool of renowned international institutions and arranged by Goldman Sachs.

The cross-jursidictional team was led by London-based partners from DLA Piper’s Finance practice, Paul Gray, Lewis Gaut and Tony Lopez, together with Romain Guénin, based in Paris.

Paul Gray – who leads the European Sports Finance team – said: “We are delighted to have supported Goldman Sachs and several other clients active in the European football finance space on this transaction. The deal is another great example of DLA Piper’s knowledge and experience to structure and document complex and innovative finance transactions in the sports sector.” 

DLA Piper’s European Sports Finance team is part of the firm’s Media, Sports and Entertainment sector, co-chaired by Peter White, who is one of the firm’s key client relationship partners for Goldman Sachs and other significant sports clients globally.

DLA Piper has previously advised on a number of groundbreaking transactions in the sporting world, including the recent EUR1.45 billion financing of FC Barcelona’s Spotify Camp Nou and the financing of FC Barcelona’s media rights (and FCB’s sale of certain other La Liga media rights to Sixth Street).