Banking and Finance

We represent stakeholders – lenders, sell and buy sides – in domestic and cross border acquisition deals across the aviation and logistics, construction, entertainment, mining, oil and gas, power and renewable, shipping & oil services, sports and media and telecommunication sectors.

Our acquisition and leveraged finance team works hand in hand with our mergers & acquisitions team to provide our clients with a deep knowledge and insight resource as it relates to the provision of our services in connection with a varied mix of financings including senior, subordinated and mezzanine debts; bonds; vendor financing, leveraged buyout (LBO), refinancing, capitalisation, structured trade, etc. Whether acting for the lender, borrower or acquiring side, we are able to help our clients at each stage of the most complex acquisition & leveraged finance transactions from preliminary negotiations to closing, while factoring in the various interests of all parties involved to structure agreements that are favourable to our clients, and as well acceptable to all other parties.

Our experience covers all sectors of the asset finance and leasing industries including aviation & logistics, construction and real estate, entertainment, sports and media, shipping & logistics, mining, oil and gas, power and renewables and telecommunication. 

We advise on all types of domestic and cross-border finance and leasing from debt finance, seller/supplier credit finance, export finance, leasing (including operators leasing, sale and lease back, finance leasing, tax leasing and Islamic leasing), capital markets products to receivables finance. 

We also advise on restructurings (including shipping and aviation restructurings and insolvencies) and are experienced in aircraft and ship repossessions as well as aircraft and ship mortgage enforcements. 

Our clients include banks, financial/lending institutions, export credit agencies, funds/investors, manufacturers, insurance companies, brokers, lessor, airlines, operators, lessees, borrowers and governmental organisations.
 

Our team has advised on a wide range of high-value aviation finance and leasing transactions involving commercial aircraft, corporate jets, helicopters, and engines. Our expertise covers commercial debt and export credit agency supported financings, aircraft disposals (including helicopters and corporate jets), leasing (including sale and lease back) of aircraft and engines, capital markets financings and the creation of the proper security package for aircraft and engines (including aircraft mortgages) and their registrations. 

We are also experienced in aviation restructurings and insolvencies, aircraft repossessions and mortgage enforcements as well as general aviation support services (including tax, insurance, employment, regulatory and dispute).  

We act for established as well as emerging players including aircraft leasing companies, aircraft manufacturers, aircraft operators, airlines, brokers, corporates, individuals, export credit agencies, banks, financial/lending institutions, export credit agencies, funds/investors, insurance companies, and individuals.
 

We bring this to bear in helping clients to structure capital raising transactions and other financial services and products. In providing advisory services to our clients, we are guided by the principles of risk and return; diversity; liquidity and hedging. We have considerable experience acting for both lenders and borrowers in high value corporate financing transactions such as term loan facilities, senior secured debt instruments, mezzanine facilities and convertible debt instruments.

We advise on regulatory compliance with industry regulations as regards financial reporting and disclosure, as well as the most suitable corporate governance policies to be adopted.

We work closely with financial regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Nigeria to understand the changing dynamics of the regulatory space in the financial services sector. On this basis, we advise our clients concerning the introduction of their financial products into domestic and international markets.

We provide the needed guidance to our clients, helping them to successfully navigate the differing regulatory regimes across jurisdictions. We also advise government and regulatory bodies in connection with the drafting and review of financial legislations.

We provide commercially viable legal advice to our teeming clients on regulatory requirements and compliance issues. Our team members have a keen understanding of the evolving financial technology industry globally and locally and we continue to interface with regulatory bodies and governments to help clients navigate familiar and unfamiliar legal and financial territories in their acquisitions, investments, developments and introduction of new financial products and platforms.

We deploy a seamless liaison between our technology and banking and finance lawyers to advise clients on creative ways of developing innovative financial products in accordance with the regulatory regime. In recognition of our strides in this space, we have in recent times, been pivotal to the structuring of a foremost blockchain technology solution which is currently being deployed to provide power as a service to households as well as the telecommunications, banking and retail industries.   

Across the various sectors of finance including banking, projects, capital markets and funds, we at Bloomfield remain well positioned to provide legal and transactional advisory as regards the religious and legal principles governing this sector, as well as strategies our clients can effectively employ to actualise their best interests. In the course of our day-to-day practice, we regularly support banks, funds, investment managers, corporations, governments, government agencies and other players structure Shari’ah compliant transactions and financial products including ijarah, sukuk issuance, project and asset finance mandates, derivatives and structured finance mandates and general lending matters.

We provide domestic and cross border representation to both established and new participants in this market, helping them to successfully navigate the nuances of Islamic finance in a way that ensures the commercial viability of their products and services, as well as legal compliance with established rules of Islamic financing. We maintain relationships with regulatory authorities and Shari'ah Scholars who sit on various domestic Shari'ah advisory boards of active players in Islamic finance and offer a bonded team which has worked together on several finance transactions and supported projects in the local and international market with relevant experience in Islamic finance transactions. 

Our lawyers are highly specialized and experienced in the structuring of commercially viable financing agreements which are beneficial to all parties in high profile public and private projects, and infrastructural developments. Our advice to clients in this practice is not simply adapting template documents to the relevant project. We incorporate practical and strategic thinking taking into consideration business, policy and political risk considerations. We cover issues around availability of construction, product/commodity price fluctuations, offtake, protection of investment and other relevant commercial/contractual risks which are fundamental to the cross-border development and financing of projects and infrastructure.

Our clients are domestic and international sponsors, investors, lenders, corporate organizations and governments across the continent. Our project & infrastructure finance and project advisory experience includes advising on multiple projects in the energy and natural resources sector including the development of both thermal and solar power plants in various states in Nigeria, the acquisition and operations of interests in oil and gas assets and allied industries and the development of commercial real estates. We have developed a market reputation for delivering value to our clients and are currently advising various clients in private and government sector circles in connection with critical projects with national significance through the full spectra of project development from conception, final investment decision , development, construction, completion, handover, operations and maintenance. Our project development finance experience cuts across structures such as bilateral facilities, export financing through credit agencies, holdco structures, project bonds, security packages, etc. 

Based on client feedback, the IFLR 2020 rankings recognised us for the “excellent, top quality work provided by firm at all stages of the process. Top quartile work done by all members of the team on all elements of the engagement including general legal advisory, due diligence, project documentation, and finance documentation.”

Based on our in-depth knowledge of the residential, commercial hotel and mall sectors, we advise on loan origination and syndication, bridge and mezzanine loans (such as commercial and residential mortgage-backed security loans), sale and lease structures, securitization and portfolio acquisition. In addition, we structure and form various structures and vehicles including joint ventures, limited partnerships and other structured permanent or temporary legal structures.  We advise investors and the public sector on public private partnership transactions to ensure that each party’s interest is well protected. 

Our real estate finance team collaborates with its larger real estate and construction, and projects and infrastructure practices to secure and structure the best financing deals for our clients. 

We creatively draw up speedy and practicable solutions to help our clients address and resolve their current and imminent debt crisis. We provide legal support and advisory to creditors, debtors and investors in both domestic and cross border insolvencies and corporate restructurings and assist clients in negotiating the restructuring of loan facilities granted by lenders. We also provide legal representation to clients in debtor/creditor disputes and insolvency litigations. The crux of our service is ensuring that our clients’ interests are fully protected during insolvency.

Our lawyers, working in consonance with our tax, dispute resolution, banking and finance, and capital markets practice groups, are known for taking the initiative even in the most complex insolvency situations, vis-a-vis salvaging a company from total bankruptcy, raising emergency capital, ensuring smooth work outs, carve outs, settlements, asset acquisitions and disposals, and fraud investigations, as the case may be. 

Our experience covers a wide range of high-value and market leading ship finance and leasing transactions involving commercial debt and export credit agency supported financings, shipbuilding financings, ship sale and purchase (including seller’s credit), charter of vessels (including tankers and specialized vessels like rigs, seismic vessels, platform supply vessels (PSVs), anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS) and floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), capital markets financings, ship mortgages and registrations, and flag and operational registrations.

We are also experienced in shipping restructurings and insolvencies, ship repossessions and mortgage enforcements as well as shipping support services (including shipping company registrations, tax, insurance, employment, regulatory and dispute).  

In the course of our practice, we provide regulatory and transaction advisory services which cover all forms of derivative products such as credit default swaps, options, indices, commodities, customized derivatives, structured notes, collaterised debt products and other securities lending.

We have a strong offering in the provision of structured finance services which develop existing structures in an innovative and niche way that accommodates the new intricacies of today’s market requirements.  We have, amongst our ranks, practitioners with an excellent understanding of domestic and international financial markets honed over years of practice in different jurisdictions and we are able to advice our clients from a depth of understanding of cross-border transactions. 

Our clientele includes banks and financial institutions, corporate organizations and fund management companies.

We provide extensive legal advice and guidance to clients on market entry and expansion, regulatory and compliance matters, taxation, as well as the structuring of financing agreements between borrowers and lenders particularly as it pertains to a true sale of receivables; letters of credit and structured trade financing; bills of exchange; security packages for receivables, goods-in-trade and documents of title; export credits; insurance and general dispute resolution arising from trade finance transactions.

We are at the forefront of intra-African and international trade advisory and are currently providing legal support to clients in relation to the implementation and exploitation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and similar trade regulations. With a client focused perspective, we help clients position themselves legally and financially in a way that ensures they thrive and flourish in the market. Our trade commodity and finance teamwork in unison with our transport & logistics practice, to assist both purchasers and sellers in international sale of goods contracts with respect to the transportation of goods. We assist clients in negotiating charterparties and contracts of carriage and general logistics contracts. 

Our lawyers possess a comprehensive understanding of the domestic, cross border and cross continental commodities markets, and are updated on the evolving dynamic of trade regulations and regulatory bodies. In addition, we leverage on our relationships with major market makers and participates to close out agreements timeously on behalf of our clients to protect the flow of trade. Our membership of key associations and advisory roles to the leading trade finance corporates including banks, commodity traders, etc. ensures that we intimately understand the market and are able to hold your hand through the maze.  The Legal 500 recognizes that we are strong in trade finance and endorses the chair of the team for advice on complex local and cross border transactions.