Citigroup is underwriting $11 billion in loans for Koch to acquire Georgia-Pacific Corp. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank are joint bookrunners on the deal and Bank of America is also involved. The facility consists of a $5 billion term loan, a $2.5 billion second lien, a $2 billion "A" tranche and a $1.5 billion revolver.
In November, Moody's Investors Service placed Georgia Pacific under review following the announcement of the sale. Koch Forest Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, has made a $48 per share cash tender offer for all shares of Georgia-Pacific. The deal has an equity value of $13.2 billion for Georgia-Pacific. It will continue to do business under that name and continue to operate its business from its Atlanta headquarters as an independently managed company, according to a press release.
Koch had previously acquired Georgia-Pacific's non-integrated market and fluff pulp operations at New Augusta, Miss. and Brunswick, Ga., in May 2004. Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor to Georgia-Pacific, and Sherman & Sterling and King & Spalding acted as legal counsel. Citigroup acted as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel for Koch. A Koch spokeswoman did not return a call.