Providing ‘excellent technical skills allied to a very commercial approach’, the market-leading banking and finance team at Burness Paull LLP is highly sought after for its extensive expertise regarding real estate, funds, and acquisition and leveraged finance transactions, with a particular strength in the energy sector, including both renewables and oil and gas. Team head Jonathan Heaney’s practice focuses heavily on real estate financing and corporate lending, while Dawn Reoch has a highly respected presence in the leveraged finance space. John Kennedy is particularly well known in the energy financing market, with Alan Cassels adding significant receivables and project finance experience, having joined the team in June 2022 from Pinsent Masons LLP. Fund finance lead Andrew Christie has a strong focus on security structures, while director’s Sophie Coffey and Gemma Young are also key team members; the former is highly active on the borrower and sponsor side and the latter brings a wealth of experience in the Scots law aspects of securitisation and structured finance transactions.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Solid, first-rate advice is a given, but also the level of empathy Burness Paull shows is exceptional.’
‘The Burness Paull banking and finance team is incredibly hard-working, extremely responsive and very commercial.’
‘Dawn Reoch all-round is an outstanding lawyer. She is highly technical, hard-working, very commercial, responsive and, above all, great to work with and a thoroughly nice person.’
‘Their key strength is in their depth and sector specialism. Burness Paull are a renewable energy firm who intimately understand the sector and the market. Their lawyers are well experienced with projects in this asset class and the unique challenges and risk allocation they bring.’
‘They are approachable, hard-working and very active members of the Scottish energy market.’
‘Sophie Coffey is a very experienced banking and finance lawyer. She has supported on a number of finance and M&A processes in connection with Scottish renewable energy assets over the years. She is knowledgeable, easy to work with and can sensibly benchmark positions across similar projects.’
‘Excellent technical skills allied to a very commercial approach and great fun to work with.’
‘Jonathan Heaney is top class.’

Key clients

Harris Family Trusts / Butlins
Highland Spring Limited
Macdonald Hotels
Smart Metering Systems plc
Sanctuary Capital PLC and Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association
Springfield Properties
Liberty Theta Limited [(Liberty of London)]
Cruden Homes
Traditional lenders (incl. Santander UK plc, Royal Bank of Scotland plc Bank of Scotland plc, Clydesdale Bank plc)
Private equity sponsors (incl. Kings Park Capital, Kester Capital, Maven Capital Partners, n4, Three Hills Capital Partners, Bluegem Capital Partners plc, Magnesium Capital, MDP, Lonsdale Capital Partners)

Work highlights

Acting as lead counsel to the Harris Family Trusts and Butlins in relation to syndicated senior and super senior facilities and merchant service lines in connection with the acquisition of Butlins and ongoing working capital requirements of the Butlins group.
Acting as global counsel to household brand Highland Spring in connection with its £50m+ strategically important refinancing with Breal Zeta and Bank Leumi.
Acting for HICP Holdings Limited in relation upsizing its facilities and acquiring Baxters Place Limited (owner of an AC Marriot Hotel in Edinburgh). This helps demonstrate our strong financing credentials in relation to the hotel and leisure sector.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

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Jonathan Heaney

Hall of fameBurness Paull LLP

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