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Updated guide to English opinion letters in financial transactions
The City of London Law Society (CLLS), whose members include some of the largest international law firms in the world, has updated its Guide on English law opinion letters in financial transactions. The aim of the Guide is to save time and costs spent in discussing which law firm should provide an opinion letter, what should it cover and who may rely on it. The Guide is widely consulted by practitioners and well respected. The unabridged version (including full footnotes) is available at www.citysolicitors.org.uk. This article sets out an abridged version.
13 June 2024Agent banks’ duties in the era of cov-lite loans and infinite liquidity
In this article Lisa Lacob considers whether the current cov-lite environment changes the analysis on the extent of agent banks’ duties, particularly where action or inaction may favour one side.
13 June 2024Issues between creditors and debtors when restructuring listed debt
In this article, the authors explore certain key issues creditors and debtors face when restructuring listed debt (referred herein as “bonds”). There are administrative problems that can arise when dealing with a large number of disparate bondholders and the complexities of dealing with material non-public information (MNPI) during restructuring negotiations. The authors consider the different parties involved in these restructurings and how advisors can assist these parties in navigating these hurdles.
13 June 2024Arc of the (financial) covenant: issues for project and real estate finance
Outside of the leveraged finance market however, financial covenants remain a key feature of a wide range of loan financings. This article discusses the financial covenant packages used on project financings, and on real estate and development financings, together with some of the common structuring and negotiation points that arise.
13 June 2024The new pre-pack regulations and the impact on secured lenders
If secured lenders (who fall within the definition of connected persons) and their advisers engage the evaluator prior to the commencement of administration and ensure open communication lines among themselves, the evaluator and the would-be administrator then the goal of increasing transparency in the pre-pack process would likely be advanced in a manner consistent with the efficient execution of a pre-pack sale.
13 June 2024The practical challenges of maintaining a European loan book post-Brexit
The question of how UK-based lenders can continue to make funds available to European borrowers remains a key one for market participants. In this article, the authors explore some of the key practical challenges and questions now facing UK-based lenders.
13 June 2024Uncertain times: COVID-19 and the use of “business days” to measure time under finance agreements
Over the past twelve months, governments have implemented various measures that have created uncertainty around the meaning of the term “business day”. This is further complicated by the historic English law approach, which emphasises the predeterminable nature of a “business day” and discourages investigation into the particular facts of the case. This stands in tension with definitions (including the LMA standard definition) which focus upon banks actually being open for business on a given day. This article considers how, in these circumstances, parties may be able to increase certainty in relation to the way that time is calculated under finance agreements.
13 June 2024SORA transition in Singapore: challenges for intra-period events in loan documentation
On 27 October 2020, the Steering Committee for SOR Transition to SORA (SC-STS) released the SORA Market Compendium (Compendium), which serves as industry guidance on key issues that need to be considered for market participants’ existing or future Singapore dollar financial products. In the Compendium, the SC-STS recommends for compounding in arrears the use of a cumulative convention, rather than the daily non-cumulative convention. The use of a cumulative approach to the compounding of SORA may pose difficulties for intra-interest period events. This article sets out some of the approaches which may address these difficulties.
13 June 2024LIBOR transition and managing competition law risk
In this article Professor Suzanne Rab responds to the Financial Market Law Commission’s clarion call to consider key competition issues arising from a move to Risk Free Rates (RFR) or similar. She identifies challenges for the competition law regulation of banking benchmarking practices that need to be addressed.
13 June 2024Quincecare and the question of government liability where there has been Bounce Back Loan fraud
Two recent circuit commercial court decisions have considered the scope of a Payment Service Provider’s duty of care to its customer when executing payment instructions (Quincecare duty) in the contexts of identity fraud: Hamblin v World First Limited [2020] EWHC 2383 (Comm) and authorised push payment fraud: Philipp v Barclays Bank UK Plc [2021] EWHC 10 (Comm). This article speculates in the light of these two decisions whether, where scheme funds lent under the Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan Scheme have been misapplied, the British Business Bank could escape liability under the Scheme guarantee on the grounds that the lender has breached its Quincecare duty.
13 June 2024
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