Shepherd and Wedderburn on £99.3bn of deals

Fiona Buchanan

Scottish law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn said its banking and finance practice — the largest in Scotland — reported its busiest ever 12 months and worked on deals worth £99.3bn.

Details are included in the firm’s Banking Deals Review 2015/16.

The team said it acted for banks, financial institutions, corporate borrowers and sponsors in 88 deals, including acting alongside Allen & Overy for Morgan Stanley on the £6.1 billion securitisation of residential UK mortgages by Cerberus Capital Management ─ the largest transaction of its kind since the financial crisis hit in 2007.

In addition to large scale capital markets and securitisation deals, the firm was active in project finance and infrastructure projects, real estate financings and asset and acquisition finance.

The team acted for the Green Investment Bank on various occasions in the deployment of the Green Loan, a new product designed to help local authorities throughout the UK make a transition to a low carbon economy.

Shepherd and Wedderburn also acted for Capita plc as Scots counsel on the banking and property aspects of the £1.6 billion refinancing of a portfolio of private hospitals.

Fiona Buchanan, head of banking and finance at Shepherd and Wedderburn said: “As these deals illustrate, our top-ranked banking and finance team has the diversity and depth of expertise to advise on all financing aspects of the business lifecycle from origination through to complex debt capital market funding and everything in between, all across a spectrum of key sectors for the Scottish and wider UK economies.

“Despite the inevitable period of business uncertainty caused by the EU referendum, this diversity and depth leaves us ideally placed to continue to assist clients in achieving their strategic financial objectives whatever they may be and in negotiating their way through changes to the legal landscape which they may face over the months and years ahead.”