Clifford Chance and EY Abogados advise on the strategic partnership between Ithaka and FC Porto

Clifford Chance and EY Abogados advised Ithaka, a European infrastructure investment firm headquartered in Madrid, on all aspects related to its strategic partnership with the top Portuguese football club, FC Porto, for the commercial exploitation of Estádio do Dragão for the next 25 years.

Ithaka is a mid-market infrastructure fund manager. It invests thematically across the infrastructure space. Ithaka has a flexible capital mandate, investing in the form of equity, debt or structured transactions both directly in assets and the corporate level.

The Clifford Chance cross-border, multidisciplinary team advising on the deal was led by corporate / M&A and Global Co-Head Sports & Entertainment practice partner Luis Alonso and corporate / M&A and Sports & Entertainment practice counsel Pablo Murcia, as well as by Global Financial Markets practice partner Eduardo García in Madrid, and included senior associate Beatriz Pérez and associate Conrado López on Spanish corporate / M&A matters. Counsel Jesús Quesada and associates Mariana Ceballos and Yago López on Spanish financing matters, as well as senior associate James Rodier and trainee Assisi Gifford on English financing matters.

In the New York office, partner Gareth Old and associate Matthew Cramer advised on U.S. financing matters.

In London, senior associates Jamie Andrew and Lourenço Limão Oliveira, along with associate Hari Pannum, provided expertise on English law matters.

Finally, in Luxembourg, partner Saskia Myners and counsel Sascha Nolte focused on Luxembourg corporate/M&A issues, with partner Martin Wurth, counsel Eimear O’Dwyer, and senior associate Margaux Felix contributing to the Luxembourg team.

EY Abogados provided advisory services on the structure, tax due diligence and tax modeling for Ithaka. The tax due diligence was handled by EY Portugal, while the rest of the services involved teams from Spain, Portugal, and Luxembourg. The EY team was led by Araceli Sáenz de Navarrete (Partner), José Enrique Padilla (Senior Manager), and Íñigo Rubio (Manager). The EY Portuguese team was lead by Helder Matias.