• Infrastructure & Project Finance: Our Asset and Project Finance group specialises in ship finance, aviation finance and project finance (including ports and terminals, oil and gas, and logistics finance).

• Islamic Finance: In addition to advising on a spectrum of private equity transactions and investment funds, the firm has expanded into the field of Shariah compliant structures to better meet our clients' needs. Our team understands the fundamentals behind such investment and financing structures and has the capability to create innovative solutions to meet our client's needs.We have advised on the full range of corporate and regulatory insurance issues faced by banks, insurers, agencies, intermediaries and others using Islamic Finance solutions. This includes product development, impact of regulation, advising on strategic partnerships, joint ventures, company restructurings and funding issues.

• Corporate Finance: Our team advises on a wide range of corporate finance transactions and related company/commercial issues, from regulatory matters and tactical advice at the preliminary stage of negotiations and structuring transactions to negotiating, documenting and advising on the implementation of each project in detail.

• Regulation in the Financial Services Sector: We serve clients in a multitude of financial services industry sectors, focussing on our significant practices in the insurance and banking sectors. Broadly, we provide our clients with business critical regulatory advice when acting on behalf of clients seeking authorisation of their businesses, during the course of trading (handling client monies, transfers of business, the compliant conduct of regulatory activities), in respect of their interface with the relevant regulator (Arrow or similar visits, regulatory filings, investigations and disciplinary proceedings) and end of life scenarios, including Part VII transfers and schemes of arrangement. Our lawyers take an active interest in the global regulatory framework for financial institutions including an understanding of the core principles of regulation as set out by the IAIS, IOSCO and the BCBS, as well as more detailed proposals such as the Solvency 2 and the Basel 2 framework and how they can be implemented.

• Authorisation: We assist our clients in understanding the necessity of authorisation in the event that they are conducting a regulated activity and the implications of authorisation, including their ongoing obligations. Our clients benefit from our experience of the regulatory system, by way of our assistance in completion of forms and business plans, and attendance at meetings with the regulator to properly and fully explain commercial intentions and business structures.

• Trade Finance: Our trade finance practice combines thorough knowledge of key sectors and commodities, with banking expertise. It is common for our banking lawyers to work closely with our commodities lawyers when advising on finance matters. We provide a full service to clients across this market: producers, financiers, traders, transporters and end users. Our trade finance expertise is spread across a broad range of commodities: oil and gas, soft commodities, mining and minerals, power and freight; and structures: projects, pre-export financings, revolving trade facilities, prepayment, advanced payment facilities, documentary credits, letters of credit, CMAs, credit insurance and export credit insurance.

• Banking & Financial Litigation: We advise and assist in the resolution of a wide range of financial disputes for banks, particularly those arising from trade and asset finance, complex accounting issues, investment fraud and financial instruments. The expertise of our commodities lawyers is particularly valuable for trade finance banks when pursuing defaulting customers, due to their knowledge of the commodity markets and physical sale contract structures. We also have a proven track record in effective recoveries. We have a thorough understanding and knowledge of the court processes available both in the UK and leading offshore financial jurisdictions, as well the complementary remedies available through insolvency.

• Corporate capital at Lloyds: Our team acts for banks and insurance companies in relation to the provision of corporate capital at Lloyd's.

What we do Experience

• Acquisition financing for A320 aircraft by a Far East airline.

• The acquisition and financing by lease or loan of numerous corporate aircraft in many separate transactions over the past 3 years.

• Advising on the establishment and financing of a new coal export port with coal handling and associated arrangements. This was a tax driven contractual structure and involved work on the EPC contract, the coal handling and transhipment agreements, rental agreements, the establishing of an SPV to own and lease out the facilities and options to acquire shares in the SPV, and multi-party development agreement.

• Advising on the proposed US$500m financing for the 576MW Bina coal-fired project in Madhya Pradesh. Work involved review of coal supply agreements, rail transportation and power purchase agreements, drafting and negotiation of senior credit agreements.

• Advising on contracts for the storage of crude oil, petroleum products and ethanol in Europe and the Middle East, including a US$117m agreement for the expansion of a terminal in eastern Turkey, jointly financed by a U.S. investment bank and the World Bank.

• Advising a major trade finance bank on the enforcement of bill of lading security, when false bills were presented to obtain discharge from a ship, and the customer went into liquidation.

• Acting for a Swiss Pension Fund in connection with the Lehman Bros collapse.

• Advising a substantial Greek client on its intended UK primary listing of its bulk and container vessels.

• Advising in connection with the flotation on a Middle Eastern stock exchange of a company formed for the purpose of owning LNG carriers.

• Advising Middle East capital on the authorisation process to be complied with to set up a UK financial institution.

• Advising a UK financial services firm on the options available to it ranging from full authorisation to derivative authorisation, and the implications of each.

• Advising on the detailed provisions of the FSA handbook for various clients (including client money issues and the application of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme).

• Advising on sales and marketing issues, including cross border conduct of business including regulated activities such as money lending, insurance broking, insuring and trading in CFDs, local and distance selling requirements and web-based trading.

• Advising on the development of new and innovative products.

• Advising on the use of a scheme of arrangement by a non-EEA insurer.

• Advising a leading Latin-American cement manufacturer in relation to sales and purchase and shipping arrangements, including COA's.

• Advising another Western European cement manufacturer in relation to its trading operations including COAs in Egypt, Angola and Sudan.

• We have advised major French banks on separate structured finance and trade finance transactions involving borrowers located in the following African jurisdictions: Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea. In these transactions we have advised on drafting and negotiating facility agreements and the relevant security documents and providing and organising legal opinions from all jurisdictions.

• Acting for a major European bank in connection with various secured credit facilities granted by it to provide Funds at Lloyd's on behalf of its customers.

What we do Experience

• Infrastructure & Project Finance: Our Asset and Project Finance group specialises in ship finance, aviation finance and project finance (including ports and terminals, oil and gas, and logistics finance).

• Islamic Finance: In addition to advising on a spectrum of private equity transactions and investment funds, the firm has expanded into the field of Shariah compliant structures to better meet our clients' needs. Our team understands the fundamentals behind such investment and financing structures and has the capability to create innovative solutions to meet our client's needs.We have advised on the full range of corporate and regulatory insurance issues faced by banks, insurers, agencies, intermediaries and others using Islamic Finance solutions. This includes product development, impact of regulation, advising on strategic partnerships, joint ventures, company restructurings and funding issues.

• Corporate Finance: Our team advises on a wide range of corporate finance transactions and related company/commercial issues, from regulatory matters and tactical advice at the preliminary stage of negotiations and structuring transactions to negotiating, documenting and advising on the implementation of each project in detail.

• Regulation in the Financial Services Sector: We serve clients in a multitude of financial services industry sectors, focussing on our significant practices in the insurance and banking sectors. Broadly, we provide our clients with business critical regulatory advice when acting on behalf of clients seeking authorisation of their businesses, during the course of trading (handling client monies, transfers of business, the compliant conduct of regulatory activities), in respect of their interface with the relevant regulator (Arrow or similar visits, regulatory filings, investigations and disciplinary proceedings) and end of life scenarios, including Part VII transfers and schemes of arrangement. Our lawyers take an active interest in the global regulatory framework for financial institutions including an understanding of the core principles of regulation as set out by the IAIS, IOSCO and the BCBS, as well as more detailed proposals such as the Solvency 2 and the Basel 2 framework and how they can be implemented.

• Authorisation: We assist our clients in understanding the necessity of authorisation in the event that they are conducting a regulated activity and the implications of authorisation, including their ongoing obligations. Our clients benefit from our experience of the regulatory system, by way of our assistance in completion of forms and business plans, and attendance at meetings with the regulator to properly and fully explain commercial intentions and business structures.

• Trade Finance: Our trade finance practice combines thorough knowledge of key sectors and commodities, with banking expertise. It is common for our banking lawyers to work closely with our commodities lawyers when advising on finance matters. We provide a full service to clients across this market: producers, financiers, traders, transporters and end users. Our trade finance expertise is spread across a broad range of commodities: oil and gas, soft commodities, mining and minerals, power and freight; and structures: projects, pre-export financings, revolving trade facilities, prepayment, advanced payment facilities, documentary credits, letters of credit, CMAs, credit insurance and export credit insurance.

• Banking & Financial Litigation: We advise and assist in the resolution of a wide range of financial disputes for banks, particularly those arising from trade and asset finance, complex accounting issues, investment fraud and financial instruments. The expertise of our commodities lawyers is particularly valuable for trade finance banks when pursuing defaulting customers, due to their knowledge of the commodity markets and physical sale contract structures. We also have a proven track record in effective recoveries. We have a thorough understanding and knowledge of the court processes available both in the UK and leading offshore financial jurisdictions, as well the complementary remedies available through insolvency.

• Corporate capital at Lloyds: Our team acts for banks and insurance companies in relation to the provision of corporate capital at Lloyd's.

• Ship finance