Shearman & Sterling has acted as US, English and German counsel to Barclays Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ING Bank, as initial purchasers in connection with Kerling plc’s €785 million bond offering. Kerling PLC, an affiliate of the Ineos Group (the world’s third largest chemical company by turnover), is one of the leading European producers of PVC and caustic soda.

The complex transaction involved the bonds and a €100 million revolving credit facility being secured by assets of Kerling PLC and certain of its subsidiaries in five jurisdictions. The offering was carefully structured to allow for the proceeds of the bonds to be used to acquire the ChlorVinyls business from the Ineos Group and to redeem a €160 million high yield bond issued by the ChlorVinyls business.

The Shearman & Sterling team of lawyers in the firm’s London, Munich, Frankfurt and New York offices was led by capital markets partner Jacques McChesney and finance partner Anthony Ward. They were assisted by partner Winfried Carli; counsel Robert Ferguson, Miko Bradford, Mehran Massih and Gabrielle Wong; and associates Paul Beck, Henry Peacock, Jeremy Philpott, Yumi Paringaux, Olivia Mak, Nicole Liddle-Peters, Monsiree Jirasarunya and Axel Korth. Tax advice was provided by partner Iain Scoon and associates James Leslie and Derek Kershaw.