Our Approach

Our unqualified success as an investment-grade debt adviser reflects long-standing relationships with some of the most prolific debt issuers in the world. This includes being designated underwriters' counsel for companies such as IBM, General Mills, Honeywell and GE Capital Corporation. The size of our investment-grade debt practice has helped keep us on the field's leading edge, involving novel and complex debt products.

Awards and Rankings

In 2010, Davis Polk ranked:

1^stas issuer’s counsel in global investment-grade corporate debt (Thomson Reuters)
1^st as issuer’s counsel in U.S. straight debt offerings, including mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities (Thomson Reuters)
1^stas issuer’s counsel in U.S. straight debt offerings, excluding mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities (Thomson Reuters)
1^stas issuer’s counsel in U.S. investment-grade corporate debt offerings (Thomson Reuters)
1^st as managers’ counsel in global bond offerings (Bloomberg)
1^st as managers’ counsel in U.S. corporate debt offerings (Bloomberg)
1^st as manager’s counsel in U.S. investment-grade corporate debt offerings (Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters)

Notable Matters

Roche Group. We advised the Roche Group on its $16.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S issuance of senior fixed- and floating-rate notes. The offering is the largest corporate bond sale in history and was recognized by IFR as the best "US Dollar Bond" and "Investment-Grade Corporate Bond" of 2009.
Comcast. We advised Comcast on the $5.1 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of senior notes and the $4 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S senior notes offering by NBC Universal. The issuance of the notes is part of the $9.1 billion of financing raised by NBC Universal in connection with the joint venture between Comcast and General Electric Company.
Lloyds TSB Bank. We advised Lloyds TSB Bank on two SEC-registered offerings of senior notes in aggregate of $6.75 billion, each fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Lloyds Banking Group, a global financial institution based in the United Kingdom.
Morgan Stanley. We advised Morgan Stanley on a $5.75 billion SEC-registered offering of senior notes.
Telefónica. We advised Telefónica and Telefónica Emisiones on the $2.75 billion SEC-registered note offering by Telefónica Emisiones, fully guaranteed by Telefónica. Telefónica is the leading provider of fixed-line telephone, wireless communications, Internet access and data transmission services in Spain and in certain Latin American markets and the largest telecommunications operator in continental Europe in terms of market capitalization.

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Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC). We advised SMBC, one of the largest banks in the world by assets, on its $2 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of senior bonds, its $1.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S concurrent offerings of senior bonds and its €750 million ($1 billion) Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of subordinated bonds.
ArcelorMittal. We advised the joint book-running managers on a $3 billion SEC-registered offering of notes by ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest and most global steel producer. The transaction represents the third-largest steel bond offering across any market.
GE Capital. We advised the lead managers on a $2 billion SEC-registered shelf takedown of global medium-term subordinated notes by General Electric Capital (GE Capital), a leading global financial services business.
CNOOC Limited. We advised the initial purchasers on a US$2 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of guaranteed notes by CNOOC Limited, a Hong Kong-based upstream company specializing in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas.
McKesson Corporation. We advised the underwriters on a $1.7 billion SEC-registered offering of notes by McKesson Corporation, a health care services and information technology company providing supply, information and care management products and services.
Odebrecht Drilling Norbe VIII/IX Ltd. We advised Odebrecht Drilling Norbe VIII/IX Ltd., a wholly owned project finance subsidiary of Odebrecht Óleo e Gás (OOG), on a $1.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of senior secured notes. The note proceeds will be used to pay for the construction of two deep-sea drillships, which will be chartered to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) and operated by OOG. This project bond offering was the largest debt offering in Brazil in 2010 and one of the largest project bond issuances ever in Latin America.

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