Financial Institutions
Industry focused legal advice for financial institutions
Our banking and finance practice has developed to encompass all manner of domestic and international banks, and other financial institutions. Our experience ranges from infrastructure and project finance, ship and aviation finance and leasing, to Islamic finance, trade finance and private equity, as well as regulatory issues, complex accounting issues, investment fraud, and banking and finance related litigation. Clients value the in-depth industry sector experience we offer, and the significant value this can add when they have banking and finance transactions/claims.
What we do in Financial Institutions
Our banking and finance sector practice concentrates in the following areas:
- Aviation Finance
- Structured, Commodity and Trade Finance
- Bilateral, Club and Syndicated Facilities
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Finance
- Investment Fraud
- Infrastructure and Project Finance
- Regulatory
- Islamic Finance
- Restructuring and Insolvency
- Shipping Finance
Our experience in Financial Institutions
We have experience with financial instruments and risk management structures for businesses engaged in international commerce. We provide below some examples of our recent work:
- Acting for a leading bank as agent, security trustee and swap provider on loan and guarantee facilities aggregating €106,400,000 made available to assist in financing the acquisition of two newbuilding RoPax vessels from Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder AS in Norway. The deal involved export credit loans from Eksportfinans ASA which were guaranteed by the commercial lenders as well as stretch facilities from the commercial lenders.
- Acting for our client on an innovative US$680m refinancing of their entire fleet of 13 LNG vessels (the largest-ever refinancing of LNG ships). The debt was provided by a syndicate of banks led by Standard Chartered Bank. We were instrumental in structuring the transaction and, unusually for a debt transaction, it was HFW as the borrower's counsel who drafted the loan and security documents for the banks' counsel to review.
- Advised our client in connection with its mining contract with Henry Walker Eltin. This was valued at US$1.2 bn and involved mine infrastructure development and coal mining sources at the Bengalon Project in East Kalimantan.
- Negotiating various equity joint ventures for container terminal projects in China including Qingdao, Xiamen, Dachan, Shanghai and Nansha including due diligence and negotiation of the joint venture agreements with the port authority and other joint venture partners and obtaining local and state council approvals.
- Advised on the development and financing of the US$1.45bn 1,210MW coal-fired independent power project in Iskenderun (Turkey). This transaction involved an innovative coal supply structure with coal sourced from the world market, and a very complex coal transhipment structure.
