Cleary Gottlieb represented Mediobanca – Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A. in an equity investment in the context of the restructuring of the Ferretti Group, the world famous luxury yacht maker owning, among others, the Ferretti, Riva, Pershing, Itama, Bertram, and Apreamare trademarks.
The restructuring involved both the group’s equity structure and its debt, which exceeded €1 billion. The debt restructuring was completed through the partial cancellation and rescheduling of the senior debt facility and the cancellation of the entire second lien and mezzanine facilities, resulting in the halving of the overall group’s indebtedness. In exchange for the waiver of their accounts receivables, the Ferretti Group’s financial creditors received certain groundbreaking financial participation instruments issued by the new parent company of the Ferretti Group. Such instruments grant to their holders participation rights in the group’s future profits and distributable reserves, the right of conversion into Ferretti shares in certain circumstances, as well as certain veto rights. In the context of such transaction, Mediobanca and a managers’ company led by Norberto Ferretti, which jointly provided €85 million of new equity, replaced the previous shareholders.