Gleiss Lutz has advised the Hilton hotel group and financial investor Blackstone on all German aspects of refinancing and restructuring Hilton’s existing debt. The Hilton hotel group was purchased by Blackstone in 2007 for approx. USD 26 billion, a deal in which Gleiss Lutz represented Blackstone and which was the largest acquisition ever of a hotel company.
The current refinancing involved early repayment and conversion of part of the mezzanine tranches to equity reducing the company’s existing debt by nearly USD 4 billion.
Gleiss Lutz’ best friend law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was the lead legal advisor for the transaction. Gleiss Lutz advised on all aspects of German law.
The core team consisted of Dr. Helge Kortz (partner) and Dr. Kai Birke (both finance, Frankfurt) as well as Dr. Jan Bauer (partner, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Dr. Christian Cascante and Dr. Jochen Tyrolt (both partners, corporate/M&A, Stuttgart). The following Gleiss Lutz lawyers were also involved: Dr. Burkhard Jäkel, Dr. Maximilian von Rom (both partners), Dominique Seifert, Vanessa Bayliss and Teresa Baldwin (all finance, Frankfurt), Dr. Jürgen Rieg, Dr. Matthias Tresselt (both corporate/M&A, Stuttgart) and Stefanie Schween (corporate/M&A, Frankfurt) as well as Dr. Sabine Engelhardt (real estate, Berlin).
Gleiss Lutz has advised Blackstone on a series of transactions in the past, including the acquisition of Klöckner Pentaplast, Blackstone’s stake in Deutsche Telekom AG and the public takeover of Celanese AG. Gleiss Lutz also advised the private equity firm on several real estate deals.
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