Sophie Lok
DLA PiperDLA Piper has restructured its team with the arrival of Sophie Lok in early 2023, a specialist in acquisition and corporate finance, and the promotion of real estate and structured finance specialist Romain Guénin to partner in May 2023. The team, headed by real estate finance expert Erwan Lacheteau and which also includes project finance specialist Eric Villateau, is able to offer a good array of expertise to lenders and borrowers alike. The practice is notably retained by leading US investment funds in need of property financing expertise including on complex financing and restructuring deals. The team also a strong involvement alongside lenders and banks on LBO financing and assists both banks and corporations with the negotiation of credit facilities.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very correctly structured team, both on French deals and cross-borders; real ease in managing cross-border operations in different countries.’
‘Perfect knowledge of the profession and its technicalities, total availability, transparency, ethics and reliability.’
‘Very professional, profound and tailor-made legal advice; extraordinary knowledge of sectors, markets and legal context; very pleasant communication & collaboration; strong responsiveness and responsibility .’
‘Strong understanding of client's needs leads to tailor-made and effective legal advice; individuals are fully engaged, dedicated and responsive; professional and pleasant and efficient in times of pressure.’
‘Great technical skills, market awareness, a stoic defender of creditors' interest and great communication skills.’
‘Sophie Lok is a stand-out lawyer - she has great technical skills, easily navigates the land mines in the documentation and is a great communicator’
‘Great availability, they are very responsive and are able to deal with complex situations while maintaining a speed of execution allowing deadlines to be met. Agility and adaptability are also strong markers within a team which constantly seeks to find pragmatic solutions while maintaining the appropriate legal framework.
‘Sophie Lok is available, attentive, rigorous while demonstrating adaptability in order to move cases forward. Her talents as a negotiator and speaker have enabled us to carry out numerous operations. ’
Key clients
- Société Générale group
- BNP Paribas
- Blackstone Group International Partners LLP
- The Carlyle Group
- Natixis and Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire (BPCE group)
- Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking
- Caisse des Dépôts (Banque des Territoires)
- ING Bank N.V.
- Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord/LB)
- FMO (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V)
- GLP (Gazeley)
- Brookfield/Edyn
- Fortress
- Invesco
- Mount Street
- Pricoa / PGIM
- Crédit Industrial et Commercial
- Oxford Properties Group
Work highlights
- Advised NORD/LB on a €156,000,000 financing facility for Covage Infra to accelerate Covage's development plan to connect 100% of its businesses to fiber.
- Advising Carlyle in relation to the equity bridge financing of acquisitions of logistics and light industrial assets located in France to create a new logistics portfolio.
- Advising a pool of 21 banks in a 1 billion (including 505 million extension) corporate financing for Korian in a highly sensitive sector.
Lawyers
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Romain Guénin
DLA PiperPractice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Erwan Lacheteau