Clifford Chance and Linklaters advised on the issuance of a $4 billion Volkswagen AG bond in four tranches.

The bond issuance comes at a time when a number of European companies have sought to shore up their liquidity due to the bleak global economic outlook resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As in any crisis, securing liquidity—gross and net—is the most critical area for any company and we are monitoring our position like hawks," Frank Witter, Volkswagen AG's chief financial officer, said on a call with analysts after the company reported quarterly results at the end of April. "We have proven throughout the diesel crisis how financially robust we are."

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having intentionally programmed diesel engines installed in millions of cars globally to skirt U.S. emissions standards. Total payouts from the scandal have been in the billions of dollars, and the company expects more payouts this year.

For the recent bond issuance, Clifford Chance advised the carmaker and Linklaters advised the banking consortium that includes Citigroup, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Securities and Morgan Stanley. The bonds were issued by Volkswagen of America Finance LLC.

Linklaters partners Marco Carbonare and Peter Waltz led the team advising on the deal. The Clifford Chance team was led by partner George Hacket.