Simmons leads for Thomas Cook to secure £2bn refinancing

Simmons & Simmons and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken key roles on Thomas Cook's refinancing, as the travel company attempts to bolster its balance sheet.

The process, which has taken almost six months to complete, has seen the company secure financing worth almost £2bn in total.

Simmons won the role to advise Thomas Cook last November, after a competitive tender against three magic circle firms including longstanding adviser Slaughter and May.

The most recent stage of the refinancing involved the confirmation of a £1.05bn syndicated term loan and revolving credit facilities agreement, as well as a £200m bilateral bonding and guarantee facilities agreement.

The refinancing process also included two bond issuances in April – Thomas Cook's first venture into the Eurobond market – which raised £300m and e400m (£349m) respectively.

The Simmons team advising on the new bank facilities was led by City banking partners Simon Middleton and Adam Cooper, alongside finance partners France Wilmet in Brussels, Sandra Pfister in Frankfurt and lawyers in the firm's Duesseldorf and Paris offices. A&O City finance partner George Link took the lead role for the banks.

On the bond issuances, the Simmons team was headed by London-based capital markets partner Charles Hawes, while A&O advised the banks led by City capital underwriters partner Matthew Hartley.

Commenting on the instruction, Simmons' first for the client, Middleton said: "We aredelighted to have assisted Thomas Cook withits successful refinancing. The work went very smoothly, everything was concluded in a timely manner, and we enjoyed working with the company's team."

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