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Clifford Chance LLP

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Clifford Chance LLP has 'excellent partners with depth of knowledge and experience' and clients remark that the firm has 'a strong team of associates and some very good trainees coming through'. Matthew Fairclough  is head of the firm's global financial markets practice, in which houses the debt capital markets group, and his practice typifies the partner team as it encompasses advice to issuers and underwriters on new issuance, debt programmes, convertible and exchangeable bonds, corporate hybrid capital and regulatory capital trades, and liability management. Andrew Coats specialises in advising financial institutions. Simon Sinclair assisted Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited with its €100m EMT programme. Global head of capital markets Michael Dakin has extensive experience advising private equity sponsors, and Paul Deakins assists issuers and underwriters with a broad range of deals. Deborah Zandstra, who leads the firm's sovereign debt advisory practice, is advising Sri Lanka in its bid for an Extended Fund Facility from the IMF and a restructuring of its debt. Kate Vyvyan advised the arranger and dealer on the establishment of the AXA Logistics Europe Fund €2bn EMTN programme. Clare Burgess handles  infrastructure, renewables and sustainability-related transactions including project bonds and private placements. Jill Concannon joined from White & Case LLP to add more experience in international securities offerings. US capital markets partner Johannes Juette recently moved to London from the Singapore office.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Excellent partners with depths of knowledge and experience. You can rely on the partners to be very responsive and provide very good legal advice. They have a strong team of associates and some very good trainees coming through.'
  • 'High quality knowledge and experience with some notable stars such as Paul Deakins and Kate Vyvyan.

Key clients

  • Banco Santander
  • Barclays Bank PLC
  • The Church Commissioners for England
  • CIBC FirstCaribbean
  • Citigroup Global Markets Limited
  • Credit Suisse
  • The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
  • EDP
  • Export Finance Australia, Australia's export credit agency
  • Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited
  • HM Treasury (Government and public policy)
  • HSBC Bank plc
  • IE2 Holdco
  • Investec plc and Investec Bank plc
  • Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets
  • The Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited
  • NatWest Markets Plc
  • Nordea Bank ABP
  • UBS Securities LLC
  • Vestas Wind Systems A/S
  • Viesgo Holdco

Work highlights

  • Advised Credit Suisse and CIBC FirstCaribbean  on an innovative debt conversion transaction for Barbados, which was announced by Barbados and The Nature Conservancy, who provided conservation advisory services and a secondary guarantee for the transaction.
  • Advised the Church Commissioners for England on its £550 million public bond issuance, made up of a £250 million Sustainability Bond with a 10-year maturity and a £300 million conventional bond with a 30-year maturity.
  • Advised the Arranger and Dealer in relation to the establishment of the AXA Logistics Europe Fund €2bn euro medium term note programme.

Lawyers

Leading individuals

Clare Burgess

Clare Burgess

Hall of fameClifford Chance LLP

Head of London Energy and Infrastructure Group Clare Burgess is experienced in capital markets issuances, private placements and loans, with particular focus on the infrastructure and renewables sectors. Clare has advised on a wide range of infrastructure transactions including project bonds, private placements, corporate bonds and multi-source financings including secured corporate debt transactions (whole business securitisations). She acts for a broad range of market participants, including banks, institutional investors, multi-laterals, sponsors and corporates. She has particular experience advising on complex, credit-enhanced transactions, aggregator/portfolio financings, and restructurings/terminations. Clare advises on the issuance of green bonds, both corporate issuance, and renewables project and portfolio financings.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Matt Fairclough

Other key lawyers

Andrew Coats, Kate Vyvyan, Paul Deakins, Simon Sinclair, Michael Dakin, Jill Concannon, Johannes Juette, Deborah Zandstra, Clare Burgess