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Ogier's Banking and Finance team in the Channel Islands has maintained its top tier position in the leading industry guide Legal 500.
The top tier ranking, announced in the new edition of the Legal 500 UK 2016 this week comes as team changes are announced that see partner Angus Davison take over as Global Head of Ogier's 'truly excellent' Banking and Finance practice, and partner Katrina Edge taking on responsibility for the European region (covering Guernsey, Jersey and Luxembourg).
Angus has a particular focus on providing regulatory and other advice to international banks and other financial institutions with Cayman Islands branches or subsidiaries, as well as advising clients on debt issues, facility arrangements and Islamic Finance structures. 'Angus Davison is the best offshore lawyer that you will ever deal with,' said one client in recent independent feedback.
The Legal 500 UK 2016 names Katrina as a leading individual, praising her as ‘knowledgeable, pragmatic and commercial’.
Katrina advises clients on a wide range of financing and corporate transactions with a particular focus on secured lending, fund financing, property financing and restructuring transactions as well as advising clients in connection with the establishment, acquisition and disposal or real estate holding structures.
Also highlighted in The Legal 500 UK 2016 are leading individual Chris Byrne (praised for being 'truly excellent'), ‘top-drawer’ partner Bruce MacNeil, and managing associates Peter Longstaffe and Matthew Gilley in Jersey.
The firm's leading Guernsey finance practice was also ranked in the top tier by Legal 500 UK 2016, with key figures in Ogier’s ‘excellent’ team including the ‘very experienced’ William Simpson, the ‘responsive, user-friendly and technically strong’ Bryon Rees, and Marcus Leese and Christopher Jones.
As part of the changes, Dan Richards has returned to Jersey after a successful four years establishing Ogier's Luxembourg practice – unique among offshore law firms – and has joined the firm's experienced Jersey finance team to take forward its European finance practice from Jersey.
Across the Channel Islands the team acts for borrowers and lenders on major cross-border financing transactions. Noted transactions include acting for Barclays in the £500m financing of Tritax Big Box REIT’s UK real estate portfolio, and advising Barclays, Bank of Montreal and Deutsche Bank as lenders in relation to senior facilities provided to NetInvest to refinance existing indebtedness and finance the €1.1bn acquisition of Skrill Group. The firm is also counsel to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the International Capital Market Association and the International Securities Lending Association.
Angus said: "The strength of the team is demonstrated by the Legal 500's verdict that we have a 'truly excellent' global banking and finance practice, and that verdict is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team across our jurisdictions.
"That expertise and experience has been further strengthened by the appointment of James Heinicke as a partner in Cayman; together with Dan Richards, Katrina Edge and Chris Jones, James is one of a number of partners with a particular expertise in fund finance which we see as an area of strong potential growth in the coming years."
