Lawyers in the Banking & Finance Practice advise on all types of banking and finance transactions, including infrastructure and energy project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, structured finance, debt capital markets transactions, and derivatives.
The practice acts for lenders and borrowers, sponsors and other capital providers, and users.
Our lawyers work on domestic and London-centred international transactions and also advise on the English law elements of cross-border transactions led by other Jones Day offices around the globe.
Examples of recent transactions include:
- Dresdner Kleinwort Limited - Advising Dresdner Kleinwort Limited in relation to the £1.6 billion acquisition of Viridian Group plc (a Northern Irish utility company) and the associated financing.
- Lenders Syndicate - Advising a syndicate of lenders, including the The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co., on a €3.5 billion facility to acquire SANEF, the French toll road company.
- Tanjong plc - Advising Tanjong plc on a US$312 million acquisition facility for the purchase of two Egyptian power companies.
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Emily Firn
Durham, Law
Trainees play a significant role within the Banking & Finance Practice at Jones Day. As the Firm does not operate a seat structure, trainees are staffed on a finance deal from start to finish, and are fully involved at every stage of the transaction.
On the first finance deal I worked on, I assumed responsibility for coordinating the conditions precedent, which is effectively a list of things that a borrower must provide and a bank must be satisfied with before they will lend, a job that I found both challenging and rewarding. Coordination on a finance deal requires a high level of initiative and organisation together with constant interaction with the client, the lawyers on the other side, and other practices within Jones Day. I had the freedom to develop a rapport with both internal colleagues and the client, and this is what made the job interesting and provided me with a great opportunity to learn. The level of responsibility and degree of client contact is the key factor that makes a training contract at Jones Day different than other City law firms. For example, because clients know that you will not be replaced by yet another trainee in six months time, they are happy to invest time explaining the nature of their business to you, and the practice is keen to have trainees work consistently for the same clients to build relationships with them.
Through the coordination role, I gradually became familiar with the structure, documentation, jargon, and mechanics of a finance deal, which enabled me to progress from taking responsibility for conditions precedent to drafting/reviewing security and ancillary documents. This ability to progress as a trainee is a huge boost to your confidence. Deals do not feel repetitive, as your role changes on each deal and you have the opportunity to become involved in different aspects of each transaction.
I particularly have enjoyed working with the Banking & Finance Practice as a trainee as it is an expanding practice where trainees are welcomed and valued. In addition, the practice is not subdivided, meaning that training is varied and there is no need to specialise into one specific area of finance on qualification. For example, as a trainee I worked on project finance deals, as well as acquisition and real estate financings.
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