Structured Finance – Recent experience
Many transactions on which we have worked are private, but the publicly announced transactions include the following:
Foxtel financing of digitisation
Acted for Foxtel and its associated entities in a syndicated A$550 million
structured financing to fund the purchase of new digital cable and satellite set
top units. The financing made use of a novel structure, being documented with
the flexibility to be drawn as either a cash advance or leveraged lease
facility, and it won the 2005 Australasian Legal Business ‘Asset Finance Deal of
the Year’.
Adelaide Airport Multi-user Integrated Terminal
Acted for Macquarie Bank as arranger of structured financing involving the
issue of A$235 million of five-year Land Transport Notes to partially finance
the project.
Residential Stage 1 of Rhodes Peninsula
Acted for NAB as arranger of debt financing for this A$90 million development
by Walker Corporation, the first of nine stages with a total proposed value of
up to A$1.5 billion.
Swinburne University of Technology’s Hawthorn Campus Redevelopment Project
Acted for the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Australia Branch, as senior lender
in this highly structured quasi-PPP project financing of new student
accommodation and commercial office space.
Virgin Blue aircraft financing
Acted for the Royal Bank of Scotland plc as its Australian counsel in
relation to the structured financing of up to 10 B737-800 aircraft for Virgin
Blue Airlines.
Ferry construction finance
Advised Canadian American Transportation Systems on an export finance
facility provided by ABN AMRO and Export Finance Insurance Corporation for a new
86m catamaran ferry.
Qantas cross-border lease
Advised the lessor, First National Bank, on finance and tax issues related to
the US cross-border ETI leasing of Boeing aircraft to Qantas. The deal involved
the delivery of five aircraft.
Lane Cove Tunnel
Acted for MBIA as credit wrapper of A$1.142 billion in bond financing
provided to the Lane Cove Tunnel Consortium, the successful tenderer for the
first major transport infrastructure project in Australia to be financed solely
through the debt capital markets.
Qantas aircraft financing
Acted as Australian counsel for BNP Paribas as facility agent and security
trustee in the provision of lease financing facilities for Qantas’ acquisition
of three Airbus A320-200 aircraft for service in its Jetstar offshoot.
Kookmin credit card securitisation
Acted as international counsel for MBIA in credit wrapping a US$250 million
securitisation of credit card receivables. The highly complex deal spanned South
Korea, Singapore, the US, the Cayman Islands and Ireland, and was governed by
English, US and Korean law.
Credit wrap of Sydney Airport acquisition debt
Acted for MBIA as credit wrapper of A$1.5 billion of fixed and floating rate
Medium Term Notes issued by Southern Cross Airports Corporation Pty Ltd to repay
debt incurred on its acquisition of Sydney Airports Corporation Limited for
A$5.6 billion. This was the largest credit wrapped note issue in the Australian
market to date. We subsequently acted for all of the financiers involved in the
$3.155 billion refinancing of Sydney Airport.
Credit wrap of CitiPower refinancing
Acted for Ambac Assurance Corporation as the credit wrapper of A$475 million
of fixed and floating rate Medium Term Notes issued by CitiPower 1 Pty Ltd and
guaranteed by members of the CitiPower Group.
Credit wrap of Broadcast Australia
Acted for Ambac Assurance Corporation as the credit wrapper of A$650 million
of fixed and floating rate Medium Term Notes issued by Broadcast Australia
Finance Pty Limited and guaranteed by other members of the Macquarie
Communications Infrastructure Group.
David Jones property securitisation
Advised Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Asset Management on all aspects of the
structuring and implementation of the fundraising and securitisation of this
highly sophisticated lease and sub-lease back transaction. The CMBS deal
involved five of David Jones’ flagship Sydney and Melbourne CBD retail
properties and included the creation of innovative new Infrastructure Yield
Securities.
Amcor property securitisation
Acted for Amcor on a A$174 million lease and lease-back securitisation
transaction, involving 17 of Amcor’s key industrial properties.
Rolling stock leases
Advised the Victorian Department of Infrastructure on five leases for new
rolling stock (trains and trams) worth a combined total of around A$1.2 billion.
Franchisees in the State’s newly privatised rail system lease their trains from
financiers, but the government has supported each lease via a complex tripartite
structure.
Record Realty financings
Allens acted for the CBA as senior lender in connection with the highly
structured acquisition of No. 1 King William Street, Adelaide by entities
associated with Record Realty.
Film financing
Advised on the financing of major motion picture productions including
Moulin Rouge, The Thin Red Line, South Pacific and Child
Star.
Mining equipment leases
Acted on a large number of mining equipment lease transactions involving
amounts ranging from A$30 and A$250 million. We have also provided related GST
and income tax advice. Clients have included (in various roles) Meridian
International Capital, Westpac, ABN AMRO, St.George Bank, Thiess Roche Lihir JV,
Downer Group, Ernest Henry and others.
Brisbane waste disposal trucks
Advised Sita Australia on the lease financing of 71 waste disposal trucks for
a municipal waste disposal project for the Brisbane City Council.
Lion Nathan brewery assets
Advised Suncorp-Metway on the tax effective lease financing of various Lion
Nathan brewery assets.
Kuranda Skyrail Project
Acted for QIDC in the structuring, negotiation and documentation of the
original financing for the project, including tax effective leasing of
equipment, and then in subsequent refinancings.
Ship financing
Acted for Westpac Singapore Branch on structured ship financings for Neptune
Orient Lines, Sing Marine and Keppell Corporation. We also acted for Brambles
Australasia as lessee on the leveraged leasing of two cargo ships.
Westpac tax spared loan securitisation
Negotiated and documented a series of Australia-China tax spared loans
involving an innovative security structure over related swap documentation.
