Akin Gump Advises on Private Equity Deal of the Year at the IFLR Asia Awards 2013

(Hong Kong) – Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is pleased to announce it advised on the Private Equity Deal of the Year at the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Asia Awards 2013 held in Hong Kong this evening.

IFLR’s awards are the only awards internationally that recognize legal innovation in international finance.

Akin Gump acted for Trinity Opportunities Limited as an administrative agent in its provision of $275 million in new funding to Village Roadshow Entertainment Group in a six-year mezzanine debt and equity arrangement. The firm also acted for the equity investor syndicate. This is the first time that a transaction of this type has been structured and executed wholly within Asia. The financing gives Village Roadshow an important foothold in the U.S. movie industry, with many of its productions being distributed by Warner Bros.

The transaction brought together a core team of Akin Gump M&A/private equity and financing attorneys with the firm’s well-respected entertainment and media team in the United States.

Greg Puff, head of the firm’s Hong Kong office and Asia practice, commented, “We are absolutely delighted to have been involved in this award-winning deal in our first full year of operation in Hong Kong. It is one of a number of many highlight deals we have worked on, and it is a credit to the team that worked seamlessly across borders to get this done.”

Akin Gump’s team advising Trinity Opportunities Limited included partners Andrew Abernethy and Gregory Puff in Hong Kong; P. John Burke, Marissa Román Griffith and David Antheil in Los Angeles; William D. Morris in Houston; and Stephen M. Jordan and Zachary N. Wittenberg in New York.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 850 attorneys in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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