Pérez-Llorca Hires Alantra to Raise €100 Million in Debt

✦ Meridian Analysis

Pérez‑Llorca, the fourth‑largest Spanish law firm by revenue, has signed a mandate with investment bank Alantra to raise between €85 million and €100 million of debt. The plan is to refinance roughly €50 million of existing borrowings and to allocate the remaining €35‑50 million to the integration of recent acquisitions in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Alantra will act as the financial adviser and will market a six‑ to seven‑year bullet loan, meaning the principal is repaid in a single instalment at maturity rather than amortised annually. The lenders will be a syndicate of banks or institutional investors, while Pérez‑Llorca remains the sole borrower; there is no strategic buyer or equity sponsor involved in the transaction. The deal shows the growing appetite for leveraged financing within the professional‑services sector, where firms are increasingly turning to debt markets to fund cross‑border expansion. Pérez‑Llorca’s revenue topped €200 million last year and its EBITDA is around €50 million, providing a cash‑flow base that can support a sizable loan. The move follows the firm’s “Scala” project, which has transformed it from a domestically focused practice into an Ibero‑American platform, now generating roughly a third of its turnover outside Spain. In a broader context, the recent placement of a €2 billion structured bond by BBVA (Meridian, 26 August) illustrates the appetite among lenders for sizable, longer‑dated instruments, a trend that Pérez‑Llorca is tapping into to accelerate its growth trajectory. Deal professionals will be looking for details that have not yet been disclosed, such as the exact pricing, leverage ratio and covenant package, as well as the identity of the lead lenders and any optionality built into the facility. Although the firm has received “some interest” from potential creditors, it has not begun formal negotiations and does not expect to close the transaction within the current year, leaving the timetable for final signing and funding to be confirmed in 2027.

The Meridian Weekly