The Portuguese sports club Sporting CP and its subsidiary Sporting Entertainment have completed a major corporate and financial restructuring which includes the reorganization of the commercial operations of their residence – the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Alvaláxia Shopping Centre and the consolidation of all entertainment-related business lines under Sporting Entertainment.
‘IBERIANLAWYER’ stated that as part of this restructuring the Sporting Entertainment completed a €225 million private placement of bonds with the institutional investors in the United States organized by J.P. Morgan.
The Sporting Clube de Portugal, otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting, is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon. Having various sports departments and sporting disciplines it is best known for its Men’s professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football.
The 52,095-capacity Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of the Sporting Clube de Portugal.
New York (US)-based J.P. Morgan is a leader in financial services offering solutions to clients in more than 100 countries with one of the most comprehensive global product platforms available. They have been helping their clients to do business and manage their wealth for more than 200 years. Their business has been built upon the core principle of putting the clients’ interests first.
‘IBERIANLAWYER’ further stated that the Sporting CP and Sporting Entertainment were advised by the PLMJ (Portuguese law firm) while the international investors were advised by Morais Leitão (leading Portuguese law firm).
The 28-year bond issue, bearing a fixed interest rate of 5.75 percent, aims to finance and refinance investments associated with the Estádio José Alvalade transformation project, fund the ongoing operations of Sporting Entertainment and repay the existing debt of Sporting SAD. The issuance was 8.5 times oversubscribed and obtained investment-grade ratings from the Dominion Bond Rating Service DBRS (BBB) and Fitch (multinational credit rating agency) (BBB-).
The transaction also enabled the early repayment of the securitization ‘Lion Finance No. 2’ under which Sporting had previously assigned receivables from its television rights contract with the non-operating asset (NOS) contributing to an improved debt structure across the Sporting Group.
The PLMJ advised the Sporting SAD and Sporting Entertainment on the corporate reorganization, the bond issuance and the debt restructuring.
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