Nicholas is a general banking and finance lawyer dual-qualified to practise Singapore and English law.

He acts for financial institutions, investment banks, hedge funds, private equity houses, sponsors and corporate borrowers in various sectors on a broad range of cross-border transactional banking matters in Asia, Europe and the emerging markets, including debt finance, acquisition and leveraged finance, IPO financings, financings for secondary buyouts and recapitalisations, project finance, real estate finance, structured trade finance and debt restructuring. He is also experienced in the areas of structured finance, high yield and debt capital markets, export credit finance, corporate finance and has advised on capital structures and intercreditor issues in distressed credit and LBO restructurings. 

Experience

Selected deals include:

Debt Finance; Acquisition/Leveraged Finance

• Advised lenders in refinancing of Apax-backed acquisition of global international clothing group.
• Advised lenders in bank/bond financing of OEP-backed acquisition of VAC Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co, a group of advanced magnetic materials manufacturers, and bolt-on acquisition.
• Advised senior and second lien lenders in acquisition of TDS Logistics Inc., a global logistics automotive group in Europe and USA by Walsh Western Group.
• Advised senior and bridge lenders in bank/bond financing for Codere Group, a Spanish casino group and IPO refinancing thereof.
• Advised lenders in sponsor-backed leveraged buy-out of Rodenstock Group in Germany involved in the manufacture of optical lenses.
• Advised Sovco Capital Partners in financing facilities in its €122 million acquisition of 50% stake in Sovcombank in Russia.
• Advised Diversey Holdings, Inc. in senior credit financing in $2.6 billion recapitalization of Diversey, Inc., and concurrent investment by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
• Advised mezzanine lender in recapitalisation of KAP Global Publishers for merger with Springer Science.
• Advised lenders in bid financings for acquisitions by Bain Capital and Mid Europa Partners in various emerging markets including Lithuania, Latvia and South Africa.
• Advised lenders in various investment-grade/crossover credit acquisition financings.
• Advised borrower in acquisition of Singapore listed company and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, China and USA and related hedging arrangements.
• Advised lenders in acquisition financing of two Singapore companies and a substantial stake in a Singapore publicly listed company.
• Advised lenders in uncommitted tender offer facility and a standby facility to a Japanese asset leasing group.

Projects; Structured Trade Finance

• Advised major Russian oil group on finance aspects of potential acquisition of Japanese oil and gas business assets of international oil giant.
• Advised a global supplier of automotive components/systems in refinancing facilities by EBRD and bank syndicate for development of automotive plant in Romania.
• Advised major Russian oil group in disposal to Chinese group of holder of exploration rights to Hawler oil fields in Kurdistan and debt obligations.
• Advised senior lenders in acquisition of International Energy Group in the Channel Islands by Prime Infrastructure Group.
• Advised lenders regarding loan facilities provided in connection with the project financing of the Voskhod chromite mining project in Russia.
• Advised bidder in acquisition of a power plant station project in Singapore.
• Advised infrastructure investment committee of Bangladeshi government on port and jetty development projects in Bangladesh.
• Advised MLA in relation to JBIC-backed sovereign loan to the Colombian government to finance one of the Pacific Ocean Linkage projects in Columbia.
• Advised a lender in pre-export financing to major oil producer.
• Advised lenders in relation to JBIC-untied credit facility to the Romanian government to finance rehabilitation project for the renovation and roll-out of railway transport services in Romania.
• Advised lenders in relation to JBIC buyer credit facilities (NEXI-backed) to subsidiaries of a major international shipping company to finance purchase of two cruise vessels in UK.
• Advised lenders in Finnvera-backed export finance facilities in relation to the supply of equipment for a GSM telecommunications network in the Philippines.

Restructuring

• Advised adhoc committee of subordinated noteholders in the €3 billion debt reorganisation of Hellas II and in the bid for the assets of Wind Hellas Telecommunications.
• Advised Russia’s largest electronics group in connection with its $330 million debt restructuring with debt-for-equity swap and its subsequent divestment to PPF Group.
• Advised CVC in restructuring of bank/bond financing for Lecta Group.
• Advised mobile phone provider group in respect of debt restructuring in Thailand.
• Advised creditor steering committee in debt restructuring of two of the largest poultry farming groups in Indonesia with listing of convertible bonds in Luxembourg.
• Advised creditor steering committee in the restructuring of debt obligations of major consumer finance company in Indonesia.

Structured Finance

• Advised notes trustee in relation to structured acquisition and securitisation of non-performing loan portfolios by a major investment bank.
• Advised global automotive group in relation to amendment facilities to the €125 million pan-European receivables securitisation.
• Advised global aluminum group in structuring cash flow structures to service and support its existing $4 billion loan.
• Advised lenders in financing facilities for film production group in India and Asia.

Real Estate Finance

• Advised lenders in take-private management buy-out of major UK hotel group and property portfolio redevelopment/disposals.
• Advised sponsors in the financing for acquisition and development of Pushkino Logistics Park Project in Russia.
• Advised AIG in the financing for acquisition and development of Pokrovsky Hills, a premier master-planned gated residential community.

Corporate Finance/M&A

• Advised Rosneft in joint venture with Chinese oil company Sinopec in respect of US$3.7 billion loan obligations to Bank of China to finance acquisition of OAO Udmurtneft.
• Advised Alfa Group on debt aspects in formation of VimpelCom, Ltd, one of the largest emerging markets mobile operators, in $23.8 billion merger of Altimo’s and Telenor’s holdings in OJSC VimpelCom and Kyivstar.
• Advised Alfa Group in $1.1 billion sale of interest in NASDAQ-listed CTC Media, Inc., Russia’s leading independent television broadcaster, to National Media Group and Surgutneftegaz.

Memberships / Directorships

• Law Society of Singapore
• Singapore Academy of Law
• The Law Society of England & Wales 

Publications

Selected publications include:

• Author, “The New LMA Pan European Private Placement Documentation: A Kickstart?” - Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, (2015) 4 JIBFL 247
• Author, “LIBOR Floors and Zero Floors: Where are they now?” - Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, (2015) 11 JIBFL 722
• Author, “Acquisition Finance—Second Lien Financing” – Lexis@PSL (2015)
• Author, “The Security Agent and Security Trust Provisions” - Lexis@PSL (2015)