Watson Farley & Williams LLP
Watson Farley & Williams LLP has 'an excellent team that manages to achieve the rare combination of excellent technical legal skills, strong market knowledge and contacts, and a personable and human approach'. The firm's long-standing commitment to the commodities sector, combined with experience in complex finance structures, make it a prominent adviser on commodity and upstream finance transactions. Lead partner Joe Levin and senior associate Jordan Joannides assisted FBN Bank (UK) Ltd with commodities mandates with a total value of $185m, including trade finance and working capital facilities. Levin also advised BW Energy Holdings on a new $300m reserve-based lending facility to finance the development of the Dussafu offshore oilfield in Gabon. Head of the mining and commodities group Jan Mellmann and head of the global oil and gas practice Chris Kilburn are closely involved in the financing of major projects across the globe.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘An excellent team who manage to achieve the rare combination of excellent technical legal skills, strong market knowledge and contacts and a personable and human approach to their work.’
‘Joe Levin is excellent.’
‘Very knowledgeable group and involved in numerous financings matters, particularly on the shipping side.’
‘As a group, they are practical and thoughtful and have excellent industry knowledge.’
‘WFW has the capabilities of a larger firm and the flexibility of a smaller firm.’
‘Jan Mellmann is a committed and commercially minded partner and a trusted advisor.’
Key clients
- Republic of Guinea
- FBN Bank (UK) Ltd
- BW Energy Holdings Pte. Ltd
- Black Sea Trade and Development Bank
- Trafigura Pte Ltd
- African Export and Import Bank (“Afrexim”)
- Coastline Exploration
- JE Energy
- Altamin Limited
- Teichmann Company Limited
- United Oil & Gas plc
- Tenaz Energy Corp.
- CalEnergy Resources (UK) Ltd
- Celsius Resources Limited
- Beacon Energy plc
- Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd.
Work highlights
- Advising BW Energy on an up to US$300m new international RBL (“reserve-based lending”) facility. The facility will be used initially to further finance and develop the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.
- Advising Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (“BSTDB”) regarding an up to €90.5m loan granted to Energean Oil & Gas S.A. (“Energean”), as well an associated guarantee to be provided by the Greek State for up to 90% of the total committed investment, to develop the Prinos Basin offshore of Greece.
- Advising Trafigura on an up to US$150,000,000 facility agreement for Gran Tierra Energy with two Swiss entities from the Gran Tierra group acting as the borrowers.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Joe Levin