Norton Rose Fulbright advises on 10 winning deals of the year at Marine Money Awards

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s shipping team has advised on 10 deals recognised as ‘Deals of the Year’ at Marine Money’s annual Ship Finance Awards.

Marine Money is a prominent publication in the shipping and offshore finance sector, with these accolades serving as significant acknowledgements of exceptional financial work and maritime dealmaking across the global ship finance industry.

Amongst the 10 winning ‘Deals of the Year’ that Norton Rose Fulbright advised on is a US$2.8bn senior secured credit facility to GasLog Ltd, the largest-ever commercial debt financing in the global shipping industry, which was named ‘Bank Debt Deal of the Year’. ‘Offshore West – Export Credit Deal of the Year’ and ’Offshore West – M&A Deal of the Year’ were awarded for two export credit agency (ECA) backed green facilities totalling €1.075bn for offshore wind turbine installation company Cadeler A/S, deals that have helped create the leading operator in the offshore wind turbine installation space.

Simon Hartley, global co-head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s shipping group, said:

“We congratulate our clients on these deals and are very pleased that we were able to support them. This result demonstrates the breadth of our practice in the maritime sector - the 10 award-winning deals we advised on represent significant work on a range of areas including LNG, offshore and renewables projects and these deals all drew upon our extensive global shipping platform with lawyers from offices including Amsterdam, Athens, London, New York, Shanghai, Singapore and Vancouver involved.”

The work of Norton Rose Fulbright’s global shipping practice encompasses all aspects of corporate shipping transactions including mergers and acquisitions, complex finance and leasing deals and ship sales, acquisitions and charter transactions. The firm’s shipping lawyers advise a range of clients on the full spectrum of international shipping finance including work for banks, lessors, and ship owners and operators worldwide.

The complete list of the ‘Deals of the Year’ recognising Norton Rose Fulbright is:

• Bank Debt Deal of the Year
  Advising Citibank N.A and BNP Paribas as global co-ordinators, initial mandated lead arrangers, and bookrunners on a US$2.8bn sustainability and gender diversity-linked senior secured credit facility to GasLog Ltd. Lead partner: Yianni Cheilas (Athens/London)
• Offshore West – Export Credit
  Advising DNB Bank and related bank syndicate on a Sinosure-backed green newbuilding facility and ancillary lines totalling €525m in relation to the construction of two X-Class offshore wind turbine installation vessels. Lead partners: Yianni Cheilas (London/Athens), Joy Gao (Shanghai)
• Offshore West – M&A
  Advising DNB Bank on acquisition finance facilities of €550m put in place to assist Cadeler with its merger agreement with NYSE-listed Eneti Inc which created the leading operator in the offshore wind turbine space. Lead partners: Yianni Cheilas (London/Athens), Brian Devine (New York), Neha Khosla (London)
• Export Credit Deal of the Year
  Advising Citi on a €84.5m Eksfin-supported loan facility for pre- and post-delivery financing of two commissioning service operation vessels for the offshore wind industry. Norton Rose Fulbright acted for Citi and Eksfin. Lead partner: Ben Rose (Singapore)
• Private Placement Debt Deal of the Year
  Advising the investor on a C$58m Senior Secured Private Placement arranged by ABN AMRO Bank N.V. for Eureka Shipping Ltd for the purpose of financing the construction and delivery of a 12,500 dwt cement carrier. Lead partners: Joris Ravelli (Amsterdam), Richard Howley (London) and David Bain (Vancouver)
• Private Placement Equity Deal of the Year
  Advising Macquarie Bank Limited, London Branch on the up to US$97.5m acquisition financing for subsidiaries of Stainless Tankers ASA to part-finance the purchase of seven stainless steel chemical tankers in connection with the admission to trading of all issued shares of Stainless Tankers ASA on the Euronext Growth Oslo stock exchange. Lead partner: Andrew Williams (London)
• Private Equity Deal of the Year
  Advising on over US$200m in investments to Neptune Leasing from Latsis Family and Costamare. Lead partner: Yianni Cheilas (Athens)
• Green Category Deal of the Year
  Advising a syndicate of eight banks on a US$303m sustainability-linked loan financing for Hafnia. Lead partner: Sue Ann Gan (Singapore)
• Project Finance East Deal of the Year
  Advising a club of lenders on a US$145m financing for BW Batangas, one of the world's leading maritime groups involved in shipping, floating infrastructure, deepwater oil and gas production, and new sustainable technologies. Lead partner: Sue Ann Gan (Singapore)
• Leasing East Deal of the Year
  Advising Global Meridian Holdings (and its affiliated companies) on the purchase, sale and subsequent chartering of a significant number of its newbuild LNG vessels on order at Samsung Heavy Industries to be operated under long term time charter contracts with Qatar Energy. Lead partner: Simon Hartley (London)