Latham & Watkins is advising the arrangers and lenders on the senior secured loan and bond financing for Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s (CD&R) bid to acquire a 50% controlling stake in Opella, the consumer healthcare business of Sanofi. Sanofi and CD&R announced this week that they had entered into exclusive negotiations for the sale of the stake, with Sanofi expected to remain a significant shareholder.
The Latham senior financing team is being led by London partners Dan Maze, Francesco Lione, and Hendrik Smit and Paris partners Roberto Luis Reyes Gaskin and Lionel Dechmann, with Paris counsel Aurélie Buchinet and associates Jason Britto, Robert Lowe, Bie Cookey, Jackie Yonover, Matthieu Herviaux, Patrick McDonald, and Luke Barratt. The Latham PIK financing team is led by London finance partners Fergus Wheeler and Paul Yin and New York corporate partners Stelios Saffos, Peter Sluka, and Andrew Blumenthal, with associates Maurice Stewart, Stefan Vujacic, and Danielle Stobie.