International law firm Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) continues to grow its international aviation practice with the recruitment of asset finance Partners David Brotherton and Justin Sun, along with a team of five Associates, who will join the firm’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).
David and Justin are recognised names in the Asian asset finance sector, with particular expertise in aviation finance, where they represent financiers, lessors, owners and operators on a range of matters, including aircraft finance, loan agreements, sale and leaseback, structured finance transactions (including syndicated and structured debt financing), cross-border leasing and project financing. They have also handled a number of Islamic finance transactions.
With a growing reputation for representing lenders, David and Justin are particularly well known for their lessor work, including acting for a major Chinese financial leasing company on the first on-shore Tianjin free-trade zone aircraft financing transaction. Other clients include significant aircraft leasing companies for whom they have worked on the financing and leasing of a range of aircraft, including Boeing 737-800s and Fokker 100s.
Giles Kavanagh, head of the firm’s aviation practice said: “We are delighted to welcome David, Justin and their Associates to our international aviation practice. Their aviation and asset finance experience further strengthens our existing practice and enables us to provide clients with local expertise supported by a global team, something we know our clients value.”
Mert Hifzi, head of the firm’s Asia-Pacific aviation practice commented: “This is an exciting hire for HFW which enables us to continue to push the growth of our practice in the Asia region and in particular into China where Justin successfully developed a strong relationship with the lessor market. We are now able to provide our global client base with the full suite of services they require in most of the major aviation hubs in the world.”
The firm has been making significant investments in building its international finance capability and the hire of David and Justin comes on the back of a number of other recent important hires into the team, including Philip Prowse (London), Stephen Marais (London), Franck Bernauer and Jean-Marc Zampa (Paris), Tien Tai (Dubai), Shyamal Jeewoolall (Dubai), Haydn Dare (Indonesia) and Leigh Borrello (Sydney/Singapore).