A multidisciplinary team led by partners Gonçalo dos Reis Martins and Tomás Almeida Ribeiro was involved in the transaction.
PLMJ advised Sporting SAD, Futebol SAD, and Sporting Entertainment, S.A. on reorganising the commercial operations of the José Alvalade Stadium, as well as on the group's debt structure. This included a complex corporate restructuring and obtaining long-term financing from US institutional investors.
The team managed the corporate restructuring process, enabling the consolidation of business lines related to the José Alvalade Stadium and the Alvaláxia Shopping Centre. Other entertainment-related business lines were also consolidated into Sporting Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sporting SAD.
At the same time, PLMJ advised Sporting Entertainment on a private placement of bonds with institutional investors in the US, organised by J.P. Morgan. The €225 million bond issue has a 28-year maturity and a fixed interest rate of 5.75%. The bonds are guaranteed by the business lines operated by Sporting Entertainment and have been given an investment-grade rating by DBRS and Fitch.
PLMJ also advised Sporting on the early repayment of the securitisation transaction known as 'Lion Finance No. 2'. Under this transaction, Sporting had previously assigned the receivables arising from the NOS television rights contract. The repayment was made using some of the proceeds from the bonds and helped to improve the Sporting Group's debt structure.
The multidisciplinary PLMJ team included specialists from the Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate M&A, Real Estate, Tax, and Intellectual Property practices. Gonçalo dos Reis Martins, a partner in Banking and Finance and Capital Markets, and Tomás Almeida Ribeiro, a partner in Corporate M&A practice, led the transaction.
The team also included João Terrinha, Kathleen Barley, Tiago Jesus Bento and Diogo Angeiras Leitão from the Banking and Finance and Capital Markets practice; Leonor Melo Bento and Tiago Belinha from the Corporate M&A practice; Francisco Lino Dias and Maria Sanches Afonso, both partners in the Real Estate and Tourism practice; Dinis Tracana, a partner in the Tax practice; and Hugo Monteiro de Queirós, a partner and the head of the Intellectual Property practice.