Sullivan & Worcester LLP

Sullivan’s award-winning London office is multi-disciplinary, advising clients in relation to trade and trade finance, commodity and export finance, banking and securitisation, securities, acquisition, project and real estate development finance, insurance, tax, compliance and regulatory issues, as well as all aspects of dispute resolution.

The team advises banks, financial institutions and funds in all aspects of their business. The firm also counts the key industry bodies in trade finance as its clients, including BAFT (the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), ITFA (the International Trade and Forfaiting Association) and the ICC (the International Chamber of Commerce).

With London being the international centre for trade, export and commodities finance, a large proportion of the firm’s trade and export finance work is handled there. However, the team advises clients in relation to their activities throughout the world, with a particular emphasis on emerging markets including in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the CIS and Latin America.

In addition to trade, export and commodities finance and related activity, the London office is an integral part of the international and cross-border finance practice offering sophisticated and highly customised solutions in cross-border debt and equity financing transactions. The team in London also works hand in hand with other key parts of the firm’s US practice, advising on transactions involving English law and New York law and supporting the needs of clients worldwide.

In 2023, Sullivan was named ‘Best Export Finance Law Firm’ at GTR’s Leaders in Trade Awards, following on from being named ’Best trade or supply chain finance law firm’ at the 2022 GTR Awards. The firm was recognised for ‘Legal Innovation in Trade’ 2023 by Trade Finance Global (TFG) and was also named ’Best Trade Finance Law Firm’ at TFG’s 2022 Awards.

The team’s core experience in London includes:

• Commodity financing: pre-export financings, prepayment transactions, borrowing base, reserve base lending, inventory financings and commodity repos.
• Receivables financing: multi-jurisdictional supply chain finance programs, invoice discounting, factoring and forfaiting transactions.
• Structured financing: asset acquisitions, securitisations, hedges, credit derivatives and synthetic securitisations.
• Trade services: the use of trade finance instruments and the application of uniform rules of practice.
• Export credit agency (ECA) finance: short, medium and long-term ECA and multi-source finance.
• Corporate lending and acquisition finance: investment grade and sub-investment grade syndicated and bilateral credit facilities, acquisition facilities, bridge to bond financings and unitranche and senior/second lien leveraged financings.
• Digitalisation of trade finance, fintech and electronic banking: legal issues relation to fintech, blockchain, electronic banking, digitalisation of trade finance and electronic payment undertakings (ePUs).
• Insurance: advising on all aspects of commercial insurance arrangements, including those which support trade finance, from policy wording negotiations to contested claims.
• Project finance: including infrastructure and energy projects.
• Restructuring and special situations: advising on non-performing credit facilities and work-outs and on ‘special situations’ financings, including rescue financings, litigation financings and the provision of super-senior credit to companies in distress.
• Islamic finance: including ijara, murabaha, wakala, mudarabah and istisna’a financing structures.
• Trade disputes: representing clients in risk mitigation and dispute resolution including arbitration, expert determination, court and all forms of alternative dispute resolution.
• Compliance and regulation: advising on regulatory (Basel III), bribery and corruption issues, sanctions, anti-money laundering and counter terrorism issues, particularly in connection with trade and export finance.For more information, please visit: www.sullivanlaw.com