Lawyers

Benjamin Kent is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s General Practice Group, advising on a wide range of matters for both U.S. and non-U.S. clients across numerous industries.
 
Ben’s practice is focused on debt and equity financing transactions, including project, leveraged and acquisition financings, and includes M&A and joint venture work, particularly in the context of natural resources and infrastructure transactions.
 
Ben has been based in New York since 2014, having previously worked in the Firm’s Frankfurt and London offices, and his experience includes numerous cross-border and multi-jurisdictional financing, capital markets and M&A transactions in which he has represented a variety of borrowers, lenders, sponsors, underwriters, buyers and sellers.  

SELECTED REPRESENTATIONS

Leveraged, Project and Acquisition Financing

• Compañía Doña Iñes de Collahuasi SCM in connection with a $1 billion syndicated term loan facility 
• Compañía Minera Antamina in connection with its $1 billion syndicated term loan facility and a number of predecessor bilateral credit facilities
• Compañía Minera Zaldívar SPA in connection with its $180 million delayed draw term loan facility
• Kinross Gold Corporation in its arrangement of the $300 million project financing for its Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania
• Bayer AG in the financing aspects of the $7.6 billion disposition of its animal health business to Elanco
• Minera Centinela and Minera Antucoya in refinancings of existing project finance debt in principal amounts of $500 million and $330 million, respectively
• Fiserv in the $20 billion financing related to its acquisition of First Data Corporation and its subsequent offering of $2 billion of unsecured notes as well as other financing activities
• Vector Group Ltd. in a number of financing transactions, including its offering of $230 million of unsecured notes, its offering of $850 million of senior secured notes and two million shares of common stock and the extension of its subsidiary’s $60 million revolving credit facility
• CONMED Corporation in the financing for its $365 million acquisition of Buffalo Filter LLC, as well as ongoing financing arrangements under its revolving credit facility
• Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. in its arrangement of a $310 million acquisition financing loan
• Affiliates of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC in their $3.1 billion financing for a mezzanine debt fund
• Marcobre S.A.C. in the $900 million project financing for the development of its Mina Justa copper project (Project Finance International 2018 Mining Deal of the Year)
• Skyway Concession Company LLC in the refinancing of a portion of the indebtedness incurred to finance its acquisition
• CPPIB Credit Investments, Inc. and Guggenheim Partners in connection with the arrangement of a $350 million unsecured U.S. loan
• Subsidiaries of Ascent Resources, LLC in their $1.5 billion high yield bond offering
• Praxair Inc. in the financing aspects of its merger with Linde AG
• A major Asian investment firm in a number of investments in U.S. debt and preferred equity instruments
• A Chilean mining project with Japanese and European joint venture partners with respect to various strategic financing matters
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, OMERS Infrastructure Management and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in the financing of their $2.8 billion acquisition of the Chicago Skyway toll road from Cintra and Macquarie
• ​Bayer AG in the financing aspects of its $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto Company and its offer to exchange up to $6.9 billion of debt issued by Monsanto Company for new debt issued by Bayer AG

 M&A, General Corporate Finance and Other Representations

• Empresas CMPC S.A. in connection with a number of sustainable financing initiatives, including a $300 million sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, a $500 million sustainability-linked term loan facility, and financings totaling more than $600 million for its Brazilian operations 
• Credit Suisse AG in connection with the financing arrangements for the disposition of its structured products business
• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation in connection with the $1.9 billion sale of their collective 45% interest in the Sierra Gorda copper mine in Chile
• Antofagasta plc in connection with its $500 million term loan and Rule 144A bond offerings​
• SoftBank Group Corp. in connection with the $20 billion monetization of a portion of its T-Mobile US, Inc. stake
• The Bank Policy Institute in connection with the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program
• The U.S. Treasury Department in the implementation of loan and payroll support programs under the CARES Act for air cargo carriers and contractors related to the COVID-19 pandemic
• H/2 Capital Partners in connection with a number of lender-side mandates
• Empresas CMPC S.A. in its $100 million “Samurai” green loan, the first such transaction by a Chilean issuer in the international markets
• Hudbay Minerals Inc. in connection with a potential joint venture transaction
• Minera Los Pelambres in its $1.3 billion unsecured commercial bank and export credit agency term loans related to the expansion of the Los Pelambres project, which includes construction of a desalination plant; the $875 million commercial bank tranche received a Green Evaluation from S&P Global Ratings, making Los Pelambres the first mining company in the world to receive this evaluation from S&P
• Corporación Andina de Fomento in connection with its involvement in the Green Climate Fund
• Merck KGaA in connection with various financing matters relating to its $6.5 billion acquisition of Versum Materials, Inc.
• Minsur S.A. in its $182 million sale of a 40% stake in Cumbres Andinas S.A.C. to Alxar Internacional SpA
• Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a potential acquisition of a U.S. pharmaceutical company
• Antofagasta plc/Minera Los Pelambres in the transfer of a 40% stake in the Alto Maipo hydroelectric project to AES Gener S.A.
• Cheniere Energy Inc. in its $750 million revolving credit facility relating to the equity commitments to its Sabine Pass project
• Pocahontas Parkway and Macquarie in the sale by Macquarie, CPPIB and Centerbridge Partners of 100% of the equity in Pocahontas to Globalvia
• Softbank Group Corp. in its issuance of $5.5 billion of mandatory exchangeable trust securities
• Cementos Argos S.A. in its acquisition of certain U.S. cement assets and the related financing
• PointState Capital LP in connection with its investment in Pampa Energia
• Terraform Power, Inc. and Terraform Global, Inc. in certain governance aspects of the SunEdison restructuring
• JPMorgan Asset Management Holdings Inc. in the sale of its Highbridge Capital Management asset management business and associated financing
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, OMERS Infrastructure Management and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in their $2.8 billion acquisition of the Chicago Skyway toll road from Cintra and Macquarie
• Macquarie CAF Management LLC in its acquisition of a 50% stake in the Pocahontas Parkway toll road