England - London • Finance

Shoosmiths LLP

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Drawing upon 'strong experience and knowledge of the ABL sector',  Shoosmiths LLP provides 'high-quality' advice to a lender-focused client base, primarily on bilateral facilities, to help domestic SME corporates on new money facilities (for working capital and growth purposes), as well as refinancings. Team head Jon Bew 'is always approachable, knowledgeable and practical', ensuring he is a popular choice among non-bank lenders on the structuring of a range of ABL products (including receivables financing and supply chain financing), as well as in relation to the drafting of  their template documentation. Birmingham-based partner Natalie Barnes is also recommended.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Shoosmiths provides high-quality advice as a result of its strong experience and knowledge of the ABL sector.'
  • 'Jon Bew is always approachable, knowledgeable and practical.'
  • 'Natalie Barnes and Jon Bew are the 'go to' partners and provide excellent support for our needs. The follow-up post-completion with prompt delivery of completion bibles is also a plus.'
  • 'An ABL focused team who understand our delivery aims for our clients and help us work toward those. Always able to cut quickly to the key documentary points of debate and able to articulate clear solutions which are discussed and then communicated to our client\'s legal team(s).'

Key clients

  • ABN AMRO
  • Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Limited
  • Close Brothers
  • Hilco Capital
  • IGF Business Credit Limited
  • Investec Bank Plc
  • Novuna
  • Praetura Commercial Finance Limited
  • Santander Bank Plc
  • Secure Trust Bank Plc
  • Shawbrook Bank Limited

Work highlights

  • Advised IGF Business Credit Limited on a secured working capital facility to McLaren Applied a technology first supplier, primarily to motorsport, automotive and transport industries.
  • Advised Praetura Commercial Finance on a £3.25m asset based lending facility to Wattbike.
  • Advised Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Limited on a £6.8m facilities package (including an accounts receivable line, a cash flow loan, a Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) term loan, and a property loan) to Newable Capital.

Lawyers

Leading individuals

Jon Bew

Jon Bew

Hall of fameShoosmiths LLP

Jon is a Partner and co-heads our Financial Services Sector working with a broad team of solicitors across all divisions of the firm. Jon is an experienced finance lawyer specialising in acting for both borrowers and lenders on asset based lending transactions, both domestic and cross border. The majority of Jon’s clients are the funders, including the main high street banks that are active in asset based lending as well as a great many non-high street bank or independent funders (including Shawbrook, Arbuthnot Latham, Investec, Close Brothers and Hitchai Capital). A typical transaction would include a combination of receivables finance alongside one or more of plant and machinery, inventory, property and/or cashflow facilities. The purpose of such facilities can range from a straightforward re-finance to a family cash out, PE investment, trade sale/purchase or a more distressed situation. Recent examples of transactions include: acting for Shawbrook Bank in the $70,000,000 syndicated facility alongside Wells Fargo, providing funding to Project Piper to assist with working capital and growth plans; advised Close Brothers on the acquisition finance aspects of Trust Tech Inc's acquisition of GAP Personnel and assisted with the £20m funding facility; represented Shawbrook on an asset based lending package to Webster & Horsfall; advising Arbuthnot on a £5m asset based lending facility to Morris Angel & Son; advising ABN on a £16m receivables finance facility with Affinity Workforce; advising Arbuthnot on a £6.5m ABL facility being made available to the Fluorocarbon group. In the directories, Jon is ranked as a tier 1 “Leading Individual – Hall of Fame” finance lawyer in the West Midlands by Legal 500 - one of only three lawyers with that ranking – and is regularly ranked in tier 1. The team was also ranked tier 1 nationally in asset based lending alongside Mayer Brown.

Next Generation Partners

Natalie Barnes

Natalie Barnes

Shoosmiths LLP

Natalie is an experienced finance lawyer specialising in acting for both borrowers and lenders on asset based lending transactions, both domestic and cross border. Natalie typically acts for financial institutions and corporates on asset finance transactions including receivables finance, plant & machinery loans, inventory loans, property loans and cashflow facilities. Recent examples of work include: acting for HSBC Bank Plc and HSBC Invoice Finance (UK) Limited in connection with a full asset based lending facility and term loan to support the management buyout of Parweld (manufacturer and wholesaler of welding equipment) and provide ongoing working capital; acting for IGF Business Credit Limited in connection with a £3.9m invoice discounting and plant & machinery package to support Thames Card Limited (developer, manufacturer and distributor of payment, gift, loyalty and commercial cards); acting for Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Limited in connection with a £10.7m all asset finance package to support Anglian Windows (one of the UK’s leading end-to-end retailers, manufacturers and installers of home improvement products); acting for Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Limited in connection with a flexible £8m receivables finance facility to support the refinancing of MAN Commercial Protection Limited (a national high-end security services provider). Natalie joined Shoosmiths as a partner in 2019 following six years at Irwin Mitchell and prior to that six years at Squire Patton Boggs.  

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Jon Bew

Other key lawyers

Natalie Barnes, Alistair Hayes, Kieran Cummins