The financial markets and products group at Fieldfisher houses niche trade and commodity finance expertise in the firm of practice head Oliver Abel Smith, who works closely with 'very thoughtful and technical ' structured finance specialist Dougall Molson and debt finance expert Stephen Moller. Together with Hannah Rowbotham they form a 'highly affable and available team, providing practical and commercial advice'. Covering commodities and other asset classes, the firm handles pre-payment finance, documentary and standby letters of credit, export and pre-export facilities, reserve-base lending, borrowing base deals, inventory finance, and receivables finance. It serves a diverse client base, which features banks, commodity trading houses and also producers, which it assists with pre-payment financings and related off-take arrangements. It is also able to call upon the firm's deep expertise in related areas such as mining, oil & gas, power and renewables, banking and finance, regulatory, and derivatives to support its work in the commodities area.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very knowledgeable of law and practice in this niche practice area. Highly affable and available team, providing practical and commercial advice.’
‘Oliver Abel Smith is a pleasure to deal with - very knowledgeable, while practical and client-focused.’
‘We approached the team at Fieldfisher for a new innovative structure that had to fit with the construction of our existing funding programmes, but meet the needs of our customer. The combination of the team at Fieldfisher where we were able to draw on the expertise of trade finance specialists who also understood securitisation structures was invaluable and they helped us to design a bespoke solution to enable us to fit the ubiquitous square peg into the round hole.’
‘Dougall Molson is hands-on, very thoughtful and technical and has such a wealth of past experience that he is an ideal business partner when trying to develop novel and bespoke solutions for customers. Oliver Abel Smith is equally excellent, measured and has excellent technical knowledge and always remains calm and considered when dealing with complex issues and very difficult lawyers on the other side. The combination of both Dougall and Oliver working together and fully coordinated on the one transaction really helped us to achieve our goals.’
‘The Fieldfisher team provided a very comprehensive service, both UK and outside UK, and across technical and tax areas. The breadth of expertise and effective briefing of the whole team meant that we received comprehensive and "joined up" advice, which is very important in our work in trade finance.’
‘Oliver Abel Smith and Anna Crosby provided the core service to the team; they worked really well together and with the wider team. They were approachable, but very professional and knowledgeable. The team were joined-up and proactive in their advice to our team.’
Key clients
- Banco do Brasil
- Habib Bank AG
- Europe Arab Bank
Work highlights
- Advised a specialist digital finance platform focused on international trade on a supply chain finance with global fashion brand, for purchasing accounts receivable owed to suppliers. The transaction was set up as a platform members of the group worldwide to participate in for accounts receivable owed to suppliers owed globally and dovetailed with a third party platform for the reconciliation and approval for funding of invoices.
- Advising a commercial bank on a USD234 million term facility provided by the International Finance Corporation to support trade and trade facilities for SMEs in the applicable jurisdiction.
- Advising a private credit institution on a framework receivables financing arrangement to a Singapore based global international brokerage and trading house involved in metals trading; together with the back to back funding arrangements from another private credit fund.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Oliver Abel Smith