An international, full-service practice

We are part of the firm’s finance and capital markets practice and we work closely with our corporate, tax, insolvency, litigation and regulatory practices, to provide a sector-focused offering and full service capabilities.

Our practice encompasses the aviation, maritime, rail, defence and infrastructure industries and we act for banks, leasing companies, operators, manufacturers, arrangers, private equity houses, investment vehicles, export credit agencies, government divisions and development banks, giving us a clear insight into the threshold requirements of transaction parties and industry fundamentals.

We have extensive experience of all transaction types within the sector, including:

• Mergers and acquisitions
• Operating leases
• Commercial debt financing
• Capital markets products, including EETCs, asset backed securitisations, secured term loans, E-notes and other debt and equity issuances
• Export credit agency supported financing, including ECA bonds
• Operating lease financings, on a limited or full recourse basis
• Secondary debt trading, including loan portfolio acquisitions, disposals and restructurings
• Asset sales and novations
• Restructurings and work-outs
• Repossessions
• Receivables financing and risk transfer programmes
• Manufacturer support programmes; residual and asset value guarantees
• Remarketing and asset management
• Project linked financing (such as Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships (PFI/PPP) transactions
• Long-term construction financing
• Warehouse facilities
• Islamic financing
• Tax leasing
• Structured finance products, including establishing debt and equity funding platforms
• Joint venture programmes

Corporate & Investment Grade Lending

Our corporate and investment grade lending team is made up of experienced specialists whose pragmatism, market knowledge and commercial approach has earned it a strong reputation as a global leader in the market. This team advises on a broad range of domestic and cross border lending transactions for lenders and borrowers across the credit spectrum. We also advise many industry bodies and this puts us at the forefront of the issues that shape the market. Our team delivers a service of the highest quality on all our corporate and investment grade lending transactions and this is reflected in our top rankings in the league tables and legal directories.

The depth and breadth of our corporate and investment grade lending expertise means we are ideally placed to advise on all types of lending transactions including general syndicated/club/bilateral loans, private placements, event driven financings, IPO facilities, bridge financing for funds, receivables financing, ECA backed and other trade facilities, private banking and public sector financing. Our practice crosses the credit spectrum from investment grade lending to highly leveraged transactions and we operate across all the emerging markets.

Our clients include major commercial and investment banks, institutional investors and, on the borrower side, many corporates, sponsors and funds. We act for or have close relationships with regulators, industry bodies such as the Loan Market Association and the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association and other opinion formers and are often at the forefront of the market when it comes to advising on issues affecting the loans world or new market initiatives. This means we are more than just an excellent deal execution team and we pride ourselves on our ability to add real value to our clients in making strategic decisions and assessing risk.

We appreciate that the optimal finance solution can be driven by factors outside of pure financing terms and we seek to leverage the expertise provided by our tax, corporate, pensions, real estate and regulatory teams across the world to arrive at the best solution. Our specialist industry teams help us to understand the key issues facing our clients and allow us to tailor our services to meet their business needs.

This cross-practice and cross-jurisdictional service distinguishes our offering and when combined with our knowledge of current market terms and the regulatory environment in which market practitioners must operate, firmly positions Clifford Chance as the leading firm.

Debt & Claims Trading

We offer a full-service global debt and claims trading practice, providing the world’s largest financial institutions with the platform to successfully access the global market place.

Our team is devoted to the secondary market trading of loans originated by commercial banks, other similar private debt and sovereign-backed obligations. We are globally recognized as a market leader in this field and our close alignment with the industry’s main trade associations allows us to keep our clients up to speed on the latest industry developments. We are counsel to both the Loan Market Association, the trade association for the European debt trading industry, and the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, and are members of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, the trade association for the US debt trading industry. We are also one of the primary authors of the Loan Market Association’s standard primary and secondary documentation forms.

Asset managers, investment banks, commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds, CDOs/CLOs and hedge funds all come to our global team for the depth of experience that no other firm can provide. We have professionals in our US, European, Asian and Australian offices who work seamlessly together across borders and time zones on a daily basis.

Our team has closed thousands of trades having a face value aggregating many billions of dollars.

Our global practice has built a top-notch reputation by representing parties from all sides of the industry. We are well versed in the operations of the debt and claims trading marketplace and provide advice to our clients on an array of matters relating to the purchase and sale of assets on the secondary market, including:

• Counterparty credit risk
• Regulatory matters
• Investment Advisers Act
• Prohibited transactions
• Arrangements that bear materially on the legal rights and value of debt being traded
• Cross-office coordination for debt governed by sovereign law or backed by a foreign sovereign
• Evaluation of other considerations where paper is backed by specialty assets
• Disgorgement risks
• Liens of record

Our debt and claims trading team applies our proven process-driven approach to settling trades to our clients’ advantage. We are able to offer clients significant cost savings through Clifford Chance’s Knowledge Center in India, which operates as a seamless support function, with a team of India-qualified lawyers providing legal support services to Clifford Chance lawyers on transactions after extensive training in London and New York. This service, coupled with our Continuous Improvement approach means that we are uniquely positioned to settle trades for our clients in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Derivatives & Structured Finance

Our international derivatives practice is unique in having derivatives specialists in all the major financial centres covering OTC, exchange traded and derivatives-based securities.

We provide specialist advice to providers and end-users of all categories of derivative products in any jurisdiction. We have the largest derivatives law practice, with over 120 lawyers worldwide. We cover all forms of derivatives, OTC, exchange traded and securitised (such as structured notes) including repos and securities lending work. Ours is a single, fully integrated group supported by tax and litigation lawyers who are experienced leaders in these markets.

We have been heavily involved in all developments in the derivatives market including credit derivatives, repos, securities lending, FX products, equity derivatives, energy, weather and commodity derivatives including:

• acting as European regulatory counsel for ISDA
• drafting standard netting documentation for the BBA and netting and collateral documentation for the FOA
• drafting the Cross-Product Netting Agreement
• acting for TBMA and ISLA

We focus on risk management, such as netting, capital management, regulatory and franchise issues for the client as well as the individual deal itself. We work with our clients to develop structures that satisfy both their business strategy and the appropriate legal and regulatory requirements.

Financial Regulation

Our client-focussed approach and unparalleled depth of expertise covers the full range of investment and commercial banking, asset management, insurance and retail financial service and is backed by our market leading derivatives, structured products, capital markets, securitisation, finance, M&A and corporate finance practices as well as our capabilities in investment banking and insurance litigation and regulatory investigations and enforcement work.

Our geographical reach is unique; we are recognised as having strong advisory practices in the US, the UK, Continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia – a strength that is particularly important to global financial institutions who form our core client group. Clients benefit from our extensive experience of working on complex multi-jurisdictional regulatory matters.

The practice group have played a leading role in shaping new legislative and regulatory frameworks across a broad range of markets and are at the forefront of new market developments, working closely with and advising market participants, industry bodies and governmental agencies and regulators.

We advise the leading market providers of securities on custody, securities lending, settlement risks, finality, and collateral. As well as advising participants in an immense range of trading, clearing, settlement and payment systems, we have acted for and advised a wide range of operators of financial market infrastructures.

Detailed knowledge of and contacts at all key regulators

Our team have invested time in building relationships with key financial market regulators around the world as well as other competition and other regulatory bodies focusing on the financial sector.

Driven to keep our clients up to date on key issues

Clifford Chance’s daily ‘Alerter: Finance Industry ‘ service is recognised as a unique resource for financial sector professionals, alerting them to legal and regulatory developments affecting the finance industry from around the world.

We regularly hold client seminars on regulatory issues and produce other briefings, such as our regular payment and transaction services newsletter. These are available to clients free of charge.

Islamic Finance

Clifford Chance advises on the most complex and ground-breaking Islamic finance deals throughout the world

Clifford Chance has for many years been involved in Islamic financing techniques and Islamic product development. In fact, you could say we are pioneers in this space having orchestrated many global best practices when it comes to Islamic financing. We help devise and deliver financing solutions for both investors and issuers/borrowers in accordance with the principles and values of Islam.

Our global Islamic Finance practice, headed by partner Qudeer Latif, is highly experienced in all Islamic finance contracts (including bai salaam, ijara, istisna’a, mudaraba, murabaha and musharaka). We advise on a very wide range of Islamic financial services and products including:

• capital markets
• project and infrastructure finance
• acquisition and leveraged finance
• asset finance
• private equity and real estate funds
• financial regulation
• structured products and derivatives
• real estate finance
• tax

Globally recognised leaders in Islamic finance

Members of our Islamic finance team, located in London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris and elsewhere in our international network of offices, have extensive expertise and experience in both Islamic finance and conventional finance and are at the forefront of innovation as Islamic financing techniques and products evolve.

Our lawyers have structured some of the most complex and innovative Islamic finance transactions and have worked closely with many different Shari’a committees and advisers. We have represented a range of institutions including sovereigns, corporates and banks and have also collaborated with regulators to develop legislation geared towards Islamic finance solutions, which will promote and encourage greater interest and activity in Islamic finance in the market.

Clifford Chance is a central player in and contributor to the development of the Islamic economy.

• Our global team is actively involved in a number of market leading industry associations such as AAOIFI and IIFM. Clifford Chance is lead counsel and law firm responsible for drafting the ISDA-IIFM Ta’hawwut Master Agreement (TMA) and Confirmation templates.

• We are represented on the HK FSA Committee on Islamic Finance, and the Auditing and Accounting Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions. (AAOIFI)
• We have co-authored with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a Guidebook for Sukuk ; continue to host Islamic finance workshops across a wide range of industry-specific forums around the world including recently in Istanbul, Cairo, London, and throughout Asia and the Middle East.
• In the past year we authored articles in Clifford Chance and external publications, took part in interviews and updated books such as the LMA Islamic Finance Guide and are currently co-authoring an Islamic Finance book with INSOL for 2014.

We continue to lead the industry having recently completed a number of firsts

• the first ever sukuk issued by the UK Government
• the first ever sukuk issuance by the Republic of Turkey
• one of Asia Pacific’s first internationally rated multi-currency sukuk issuance programmes
• the first sukuk convertible into units in a real estate investment trust and the first convertible sukuk issuance in Singapore
• an ijara facility structured using real estate in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), the first time this has been done
• the first sukuk issuance by a Saudi Arabian government entity with the benefit of an express guarantee from the Ministry of Finance
• the largest ever private sector financing in Qatar for the construction of an integrated retail and leisure complex
• the largest SAR-denominated revolving credit facility and the largest single-tranche syndicated corporate credit facility ever conducted in Saudi Arabia
• the first investment grade sukuk for a US corporation.

• Advising HSBC Bank plc in its role as structuring bank and Barwa Bank, CIMB, HSBC Bank plc, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and also HSBC Bank plc as agent on the inaugural £200 million sukuk issuance by HM Treasury.
• Advising the joint lead arrangers in relation to a landmark first of its kind US$1.5 billion lease certificate issuance by the Republic of Turkey in 2012 and subsequent US$1.25 billion lease certificate issuance in 2013
• Advising KEMYA, the JV between the shareholders of Al-Jubail Petrochemicals Company, SABIC and ExxonMobil, on the US$2.2 billion financing for the construction and operation of an elastomers plant; the first of its kind clean fuels project in Saudi Arabia
• Advising on the US$2.5 billion syndicated funding for the purchase of London’s Chelsea Barracks, a 5.2 hectares (12.8 acres) area in the City of Westminster. This was a ground breaking Shari’a compliant funding believed to be the largest ever Islamic financing of a UK or European property.
• We are lead counsel and law firm responsible for drafting the ISDA-IIFM Ta’hawwut Master Agreement (TMA) and have recently advised ISDA and IIFM to prepare and finalise the Profit Rate Swap Confirmation templates for use with the TMA.

• No other law firm worldwide appears on a greater range of important Islamic deals than Clifford Chance, and no other firm is consulted by so many of the regulators and standard-setters whose decisions will shape the industry’s development

Euromoney Awards for Islamic Finance 2014

• Best Islamic Legal Advisory Firm

Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014

Leveraged & Acquisition Finance

Our leveraged and acquisition finance team is made up of experienced specialists whose market knowledge, pragmatism and commercial approach has earned it a strong reputation as a global leader in the market.

We provide clients with a team that understands the commercial dynamics of the market and the business drivers – enabling us to anticipate issues and quickly find solutions. We represent or have strong links with the major players in the market, including private equity houses, investment and commercial banks, institutional investors and others.

We have unrivalled expertise across the globe and are well known for our work on the most innovative and complex financings. Our global reach enables us to deliver both local law and international advice across borders. As we are constantly active across all the finance markets, we can anticipate the evolving dynamics of the markets and tailor our approach accordingly.

The depth and scope of our experience means we are ideally placed to advise on all types of leveraged and acquisition financings, refinancings, recapitalisations and restructurings. We advise on financings relating to primary LBOs, secondary buy-outs, public bids, private acquisitions, public to privates, dividend recaps and post-IPO financings. We are experienced in all relevant financing products: senior, high yield, mezzanine, second lien, subordinated debt, unitranches, bridge financing and vendor financing.

Specialist advice

This experience also allows our clients to access specialists in other areas which can be pivotal to leveraged and acquisition financings, such as tax, pensions and derivatives. Our finance team also works closely with our pre-eminent corporate, private equity and M&A practices. The experience of our specialist industry and geographical teams allows us to understand the key issues facing our clients and to provide astute commercial solutions that help to achieve our client’s objectives more efficiently.

Leading finance capability

Consistently ranked top tier by Chambers Global and Chambers UK, our finance team delivers a commercial legal service of the highest quality across the range of leveraged and acquisition finance transactions.

Project & Infrastructure Finance

The worldwide projects group specialises in all areas of global project financing. The group offers the experience and capability of a team that regularly works on the most important, innovative and complex projects around the world.

Wherever it is and whatever its type, we can help your transaction succeed.

Every transaction presents unique demands — we work as part of your team to anticipate and to meet the challenges you may face, taking a non-legalistic, solution orientated approach that focuses on delivering practical solutions.

We will work closely with you to understand your business, your objectives and your approach to the deal. You can rely on us to provide the in-depth industry knowledge, local market expertise, practical solutions and clear strategies necessary to make your deal work.

We are highly experienced advisers to sponsors and funders on the financing aspects of projects in a range of industry sectors.

Together with our international securities practice, we can advise on all aspects of financings including the investment grade and non-investment grade markets under both common law and civil law systems.

In addition to advising on traditional project finance structures, our lawyers have developed increasingly innovative financing solutions for the projects market. We are fully familiar with all forms of bank and capital markets financing.

We have substantial experience of advising on projects that combine different forms of: structured finance techniques such as monetisations; asset acquisitions; islamic-funding techniques; project bonds; securitisations; portfolio financings; restructurings; investment funds; leveraged finance; borrowing base structures; and derivatives products.

Our experience in co-financings involving multiple funding sources — including multi-lateral, developmental and export credit institutions — is second-to-none.

With English, New York and locally qualified lawyers round the world, we have the ability to document transactions under the most appropriate law for your transaction.

Because we are in tune with the political, legal and commercial environment within each host country, we understand the underlying business issues and risks. We work constructively with all parties to allocate risks appropriately. Our goal is to find commercially sound solutions to help you and your business partners to achieve your objectives.

The group is an integrated part of the global Clifford Chance finance practice and offers full service capabilities including tax, insolvency and regulatory. We have core teams located in London, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Tokyo and New York with lawyers in the rest of Europe and Asia who are experienced in cross-border and domestic project finance work.

Real Estate Finance

A uniquely structured team who specialise in real estate finance advising borrowers, lenders, lead managers and issuers on domestic and cross-border real estate financings, refinancings and restructurings.

Sophisticated international financing techniques have become a dynamic factor in real estate markets in recent years. Our team of pre-eminent real estate finance specialists has helped a wide range of clients towards their business goals through our new and innovative financing structures.

Our dedicated real estate finance team comprises market leading individuals with a broad experience and a unique blend of specialist know-how. Our real estate finance practitioners have an in-depth understanding of the commercial real estate sector and financing products in that market (e.g. bi-lateral loans, syndicated loans, sub-participated debt, mezzanine loans, development finance, CMBS/RMBS and other capital markets products). Advising lenders, borrowers and investors means that we have an excellent overview of the aims and needs of different participants. We have also recently helped some of our lending clients to improve their loan origination policies and documentation based on lessons we have learnt through recent market conditions.

Our clients include European and US investment, commercial and mortgage banks, non-bank debt providers, funds, real estate investors and developers and corporates.

We can advise you on all aspects of debt and equity participation in real estate-related transactions in domestic and international markets.

For large-scale, multidisciplinary transactions we offer what market commentators acknowledge to be an unmatched capacity to lead the deal, combining real estate, corporate, finance, capital markets, tax, restructuring, and dispute resolution know how.

We advise on:

• mortgage loan originations in all European jurisdictions
• sale and leasebacks and opco/propco structures
• sales, purchases and financings of commercial mortgages portfolios
• A/B intercreditor structures
• mezzanine and profit participation structures
• development financings
• CMBS warehouse/bridge facilities
• residential mortgage backed securitisations, commercial mortgage backed securitisations and real estate warehouse business securitisation
• pan-European and cross border real estate financings

Restructuring & Insolvency

Our dedicated Restructuring and Insolvency team is made up of experienced specialists whose pragmatism has earned its strong reputation for delivering commercial results packaged into one seamless service.

We specialise in complex multi-jurisdictional restructurings and insolvencies with dedicated resources in the key European jurisdictions, the US and Asia, in addition to having expertise in our practices in the emerging market jurisdictions. The depth of our talent is second to none, we provide restructuring and finance expertise across a full spectrum of products and structures and access to partners who specialise in areas which often prove pivotal in distressed situations, such as finance, litigation and dispute resolution, regulation, real estate, pensions, tax and derivatives. In recent times we have been involved in advising on some of the most important restructurings and insolvencies taking place across the globe, including Seat PG SpA, Saur, Apcoa, Imtech, Vivacom, Mercator, CEMEX, Dubai World, Drydocks World, Co-operative Bank, Colonial, Southern Cross, Punch Taverns, Independent News & Media, Metrovacesa and PRISA.

We have unrivalled expertise around the globe in formal restructurings and informal workouts. We also offer practical and commercial advice on a full range of contentious and non-contentious issues encountered in insolvencies.

We regularly represent a whole range of stakeholders from corporate debtors experiencing financial difficulties to lender groups; agents to syndicated lending groups; commercial creditors; insolvency officers; official and unofficial creditors’ committees; principal finance and private equity sponsors; financial institutions; accountants; and financial advisers.

We have the expertise to effect all types of transactions, including: restructurings and rescue securitisations; moratoriums; work-outs; standstills and override arrangements; rescheduling of debts; debt to equity swaps; other forms of capital restructuring (e.g. rescue rights issues); restructuring by means of corporate finance transactions (e.g. buy-outs, M&A, new equity investment etc.); structured receiverships; corporate restructurings avoiding formal insolvency procedures (eg. schemes of arrangements;) restructurings through insolvency processes (e.g. formal cram down processes; pre-pack administrations, bankruptcy sales and purchases); and purchase and sale of bankruptcy claims. We have the expertise to advise on all types of insolvency proceedings, specialising in multi jurisdictional proceedings; litigation and dispute resolution including protecting creditor claims, cross border recovery, asset freeze, and search operations); purchase and sale of claims; advice in relation to avoidance actions; and advice on regulatory, financial, and commercial issues.

We are consistently ranked as a top rated firm by Chambers Global, Chambers UK and Chambers USA.

Trade, Commodities & Export Finance

Clifford Chance appreciate the inherently complex environment in which many structured trade finance deals take place and understand that deals are becoming larger and more complex in a dynamic market environment.

Our dedicated Trade Finance team have the expertise to guide our clients through this increasingly complex environment — to identify risk, limit liability and enhance transaction performance.

We have a proven track record in providing advice across all aspects of trade financing areas; drawing upon our range of specialists within the firm to advise on:

• Structured Trade Finance
• Letters of credit, performance bonds and bills of exchange
• Security over receivables, goods and documents of title
• True sale of receivables and goods
• OHADA Law
• Export credits, political and risk insurance
• Islamic Finance
• Immunity, sanctions and other sovereign issues
• Trading contracts, bills of lading and counterparties
• Disputes ensuing out of trade finance transactions

Our established relationships with major market participants facilitate our ability to reach and finalise agreements for our clients. We are on the panel of legal advisers of most trade financing banks and regularly represent all participants within this market, including banks, trade and industry associations and commodity trading companies and other corporates.

Clifford Chance’s Trade Finance group hold an excellent reputation in handling a whole host of complex trade finance activities across our strong international network of offices. Our clients value our solid expertise in structured trade finance and export credit agency issues

We offer our clients a full range of services from preparing standard form documentation of murabaha and mudaraba arrangements to structuring ground-breaking solutions to clients seeking a real alternative to conventional financing arrangements.

We are experienced in all Islamic finance contracts (including bai salaam, ijara, istisna’a, mudaraba, murabaha and musharaka) and Islamic finance techniques in a very wide variety of industries.

Clifford Chance is in a prime position to meet each new challenge posed by the demand for Islamic products to service a global industry, with a proven track record of negotiating workable structures which anticipate and meet our clients’ needs in the most timely and cost-efficient manner.

The wide range of clients who have benefited from our substantial experience of working with many different Shari’a committees include Islamic and international banks, corporates, boutique investment houses and funds, central banks, regulators, and government agencies.

Our Islamic finance lawyers frequently work with other finance and industry specialists, and are amongst the thought-leaders in the field who are regularly invited to speak at industry seminars and events. In addition, legal teams can be seamlessly pooled from across the Clifford Chance network of international offices and our local law specialists to achieve globally integrated solutions on transactions involving a package of Islamic and conventional financing.

Project finance

Our Islamic finance experts have consistently advised on a number of the largest and most high-profile Islamic project financings, particularly in the Middle East, which is globally recognised as the driving force for developing the Islamic finance market.

Our ability to provide award-winning, innovative solutions to project transactions makes us the legal counsel of choice to a range of clients, including the financiers, project companies and governmental institutions who are at the forefront of development in an emerging market.

Some examples of our recent transactions which are setting new standards for Shari’a-compliant project financing structures across the world are:

• Advising KEMYA, the JV between the shareholders of Al-Jubail Petrochemicals Company, SABIC and ExxonMobil, on the US$2.2 billion financing for the construction and operation of an elastomers plant; the first of its kind clean fuels project in Saudi Arabia.
• Advising the financiers on the US$1.4 billion financing of an integrated acrylates petrochemicals complex located at the Jubail Industrial City in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Project brought into consideration and tested new and ground-breaking areas including (i) structuring an integrated project financing across three different projects companies with different shareholdings but part of a single project (ii) registration of security at the Unified Center for Lien Registration in Saudi Arabia and (iii) the absence of an asset custodian structure.
• Advising the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited as lenders to Malakoff Corporation Berhad via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tanjung Bin Energy Issuer Berhad on a RM6.5 billion financing for a new 1,000MW supercritical coal-fired power plant.
• Advising the arrangers on the second phase financing of a US$10.8 billion integrated aluminium complex and related infrastructure, sponsored by Ma’aden and Alcoa Inc. involving the financing of a bauxite mine and an associated alumina refinery, with the combined cost of development being US$3.58 billion.

Acquisition and Leveraged Finance/Asset Finance

The combination of our globally established acquisition and leverage finance practice and our in-depth understanding of Islamic finance principles allows us to tailor innovative solutions to our clients’ needs.

Recent examples of our bespoke solutions include:

• Advising Dubai Islamic Bank on the provision of Islamic financing to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd for the purpose of funding the purchase of a Boeing 777 freighter aircraft which was subsequently leased to Emirates.
• Advising Deutsche Bank on the partial refinancing of the US$1.41 billion acquisition by Egyptian Urea and Petrochemicals Company S.A.E. of Egyptian Fertilizers Company S.A.E.
• Advising Investment Dar as consortium member in the landmark £479 million acquisition of Aston Martin, introducing the first murabaha facility to be used to finance the acquisition of a company in the United Kingdom.

Real Estate Finance

Our Islamic finance experts are proficient in advising on Shari’a compliant real estate finance structures and, through the Clifford Chance network of international offices and local law specialists, have the capacity to advise clients regardless of geographical location.

Our position as one of the longest established international law firms in the Middle East has enabled us to combine our real estate financing expertise with our in-depth understanding of Islamic principles to realise bespoke financing structures for our clients which are now being rolled out in other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, to great success.

Examples of our recent advice include:

• Advising Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC on a £200 million Shari’a compliant real estate financing for Qatar First Bank LLC and Zamil Gulf Holdings BSC in connection with a residential development in central London.
• Advising on the US$2.5 billion syndicated funding for the purchase of London’s Chelsea Barracks, a 5.2 hectares (12.8 acres) area in the City of Westminster. This was believed to be the largest ever Islamic financing of a UK or European property.
• Advising a syndicate of Shari’a compliant banks in Saudi Arabia including Al Rajhi Bank, Bank AlJazira, Bank Al Bilad, The National Commercial Bank, The Saudi British Bank and Saudi Hollandi Bank in relation to a SAR5 billion multi-tranche financing based on wakala and procurement structures with integrated forward lease (ijara) financing components for a mixed use hotel, retail and residential construction project for Jabal Omar in the holy city of Makkah.
• Advising Dubai International Financial Centre Investments on a US$1.035 billion on dual-tranche five year Islamic syndicated facility including commodity murabaha and ijara tranches.

Corporate Finance

Clifford Chance advises on the largest corporate Islamic financing throughout the world. We offer Shari’a compliant financing solutions to a wide portfolio of clients who are often lauded in the press for being the key drivers in a range of industry sectors across the economy.

Our industry experience, relationships with our clients, and familiarity with regional business practices ensure that we achieve the commercially optimum financing package on a transaction whilst balancing the requirements of the financiers’ Shari’a committees. The number of continuing relationships that our clients choose to maintain with us long after a transaction is completed is a testament to our success at merging our legal expertise with our clients’ business needs.

Some highlights of our recent world wide transactions include:

• Advising Ma’aden on its five-year SAR9 billion (US$2.4 billion) re-drawable murabaha facility, the largest SAR-denominated revolving credit facility and the largest single-tranche syndicated corporate credit facility ever conducted in Saudi Arabia.
• Advising PT Axis Telekom Indonesia on its US$1.2 billion multi-sourced Islamic financing. The transaction combined a number of firsts: the first Islamic financing carried out by AB Svensk Exportkredit and the Swedish Export Credit Agency, EKN; the first Islamic trade in Indonesia and telecoms trade in Asia to be supported by political risk insurance provided by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, as well as the first Islamic finance transaction supported by the China Development Bank.
• Advising Dubai Duty Free on an innovative multi-sourced US$1.75 billion syndicated financing comprising of Islamic and conventional financing structures.