British Legal Awards Banking and Finance Team of the Year: Herbert Smith Freehills
HSF takes award for work on 'highly complex' Virgin Atlantic deal
December 15, 2016 at 03:58 AM
2 minute read
(L-R): Awards host David Mitchell, Herbert Smith Freehills partner Kim Dietzel, awards judge Sandie Okoro
Finalists: Ropes & Gray, Simmons & Simmons, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Dechert, Linklaters (highly commended), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Latham & Watkins
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) took the Banking and Finance Team of the Year award for the ingenious solution the firm found for Virgin Atlantic to use its portfolio of landing and take-off slots at Heathrow Airport as security for long-term debt.
The firm advised Virgin Atlantic and its arranger Macquarie on providing security for investors, while ensuring Virgin Atlantic retained maximum operational flexibility, and also satisfying the multiple UK and overseas regulators with oversight of the airline and the slots.
The key features of the novel financing structure included a ring-fenced SPV airline within the Virgin Atlantic group with its own independent operations for UK licensing purposes; a trust structure over the slots in favour of the SPV airline; and a usage and collateral posting regime to ensure operational flexibility was retained whilst protecting investors.
One admiring judge described it as a "highly complex deal from business, intellectual and jurisprudential perspectives", adding that it required "innovative thinking and the highest degree of expertise".
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
To Thrive in Central and Eastern Europe, Law Firms Need to 'Know the Rules of Game'
7 minute read
GOP's Washington Trifecta Could Put Litigation Finance Industry Under Pressure
Trending Stories
- 1On The Move: Polsinelli Adds Health Care Litigator in Nashville, Ex-SEC Enforcer Joins BCLP in Atlanta
- 2After Mysterious Parting With Last GC, Photronics Fills Vacancy
- 3Latham Lures Restructuring Partners From Weil, Paul Weiss
- 4Haynes Boone, Hicks Thomas Get Dismissal of $1.3B Claims in 2022 Freeport LNG Terminal Explosion
- 5Immigration Under the Trump Administration: Five Things to Expect in the First 90 Days
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
