Acquisition & Leveraged Finance
Our banking & finance lawyers have extensive experience in advising lenders and borrowers on the funding of a wide range of acquisitions including corporate acquisitions, business acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs and buy-ins, restructurings and exits.
These acquisitions and the accompanying finance structures are often complex, involving sophisticated acquisition terms, cross border elements, inter-creditor and security sharing arrangements. Our experience in these areas enables us to quickly identify issues in the early stages of these transactions and provide effective commercial solutions to our clients.
On acquisition & levered finance transactions, our banking & finance lawyers draw on the expertise of a number of expert lawyers in other practice areas to offer our clients a bespoke service across all aspects of their transaction. In particular, we work closely with M&A lawyers from our Corporate team who carry out due diligence assessments of the targets as well as negotiate or review the related acquisition documents. We are also closely supported by expert lawyers from our Tax, Commercial, Real Estate and Employment teams who will be on hand to assess any risk or matters that lie within their respective fields of expertise.
Our banking & finance lawyers are well-regarded in the market for their innovative and creative approaches to acquisition & levered finance transactions. The Legal 500 ranked team regularly represents financial institutions, commercial banks, private equity firms, investors, venture capital funds and corporate borrowers.
Representative Acquisition & Leveraged Finance Work
Examples of our team’s acquisition & leveraged finance work include:
- Advised on a US$140m bilateral on demand loan facility to a Delaware company in connection with the acquisition of shares in another Delaware company. The loan was supported by a corporate guarantee from the borrower’s BVI parent company and a charge on a deposit account.
- Advised the Dubai branch of a well-known Indian bank on a bilateral term loan facility to two Mauritian special purpose companies in connection with the acquisition of assets and shares in Thai and Swedish target companies. The bank’s security covered the targets’ assets in England, the US, Sweden, Thailand, the Netherlands and Denmark.
- Advised an international bank on a US$18m bilateral term loan facility advanced to a Spanish subsidiary of a major pharmaceutical group in connection with the acquisition of shares in three target pharmaceutical companies; two located in Spain and the other in Mexico.
- Advised a family office in relation to a £37m loan facility from Deutsche Bank in connection with the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of a BVI company holding real estate in London.
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Biography
Claire has a wealth of experience in general lending and security matters including complex intercreditor arrangements.
She acts for a wide range of UK and international financial institutions, as well as a variety of borrowers, in relation to domestic and cross-border finance transactions on a bilateral, club or syndicated basis. Claire’s particular expertise is property finance, corporate lending and acquisition finance.
Claire has undertaken a secondment to a private wealth bank where she was part of the banking and credit legal team and supported a specific area of the business by delivering transactional support, predominantly in relation to property finance matters.
Claire has also worked closely with and supported the in-house legal teams of large financial institutions through virtual secondments and outsourcing projects. She has a wealth of experience in drafting and reviewing bank standard form loan and security documentation.
Claire was listed as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 since 2016.
Testimonial
Legal 500 2024
‘Teacher Stern’s team, led by Claire Gibson, has advised us on real estate finance for the last couple of years on various deals. The team is of the highest calibre for this sector in the London market. They are very professional and always responsive. All matters were dealt with, with attention and great flexibility. The team has proven to consist of highly skilled professionals, all of whom have very extensive knowledge of legal issues and an actual understanding of our needs, making it possible for them to provide advice and solutions, which are always individually tailored for the issues and goals in hand.’
‘Claire Gibson is our well-trusted advisor. Claire helps us resolve challenges that we, and our business, face. Claire is highly praised for providing the highest quality advice.’
‘Phil Berry and Claire Gibson both offer a wealth of knowledge in their field. Clients are central to the team’s work ethos, and they are undoubtedly people you want to have in your corner.
2022 Legal 500 directory: ‘Claire Gibson understands what her clients need; she combines her wealth of knowledge with a commercial outlook to deliver a stellar service time and again.’
2020 Legal 500 directory: ‘Claire Gibson is pragmatic, commercial and a pleasure to deal with.’
2018/2019 Legal 500 directory: Claire Gibson is praised for her ‘unparalleled professionalism and diligence’.
2017 Legal 500 directory: The ‘super-efficient’ Claire Gibson is ‘always on top of things’.
2016 Legal 500 directory: recommended figure of the ‘top-notch’ Claire Gibson.
Year qualified
Solicitor, 2003
Career History
Claire qualified in 2003 and joined the firm as a partner in 2014.
