Naming the department ‘structured and asset finance’ reflects
the nature of many transactions the firm is involved in, which tend
to be complex and include a securitisation angle to them.
On its website, the finance team makes clear its work reflects
the reputation of the firm: “The work is international, high
profile and intellectually demanding.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Following this thread, the universal theme across all –
typically cross-border – deals and transactions the leasing team in
this leading global firm are involved in is high-value, big-ticket
asset.
The structured and asset finance department sits within the
finance team which, along with corporate, make up the key teams at
Freshfields.
Despite relatively few asset finance partners, the department
more than makes up for itself at associate level with around 65
finance associates, of which 20 may be dealing with leasing
transactions at any one time.
Heading the department is Robert Murphy, who joined Freshfields
in 1993 but has been in the leasing industry since the 1980s. He
describes his entry into the sector as “more by luck than by
design”, and he started as an in-house lawyer for one of Ireland’s
leading aircraft leasing companies, GPA.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataA major restructuring of the firm over the past year has
resulted in the partial retirement of significant partners. Some of
these have been retained as consultants, including two in the
aviation asset finance division, Andrew Littlejohns and Tim
Lintott.
Murphy sees this as a “transition to a new phase” for the
department rather than a step backwards, and moving to a younger
team in Freshfields’ case is not necessarily a cause for concern,
he comments.
Freshfields has a strong asset finance network across Europe,
with a particular focus in London and Germany. Further afield, they
are market leaders in aviation in Asia, notably having acted on
some of the first aircraft acquisition financings in the
region.
The client base is diverse – including leasing companies and
financial institutions active in asset finance – and, like a lot of
the work they take up, high profile. Murphy does not deny the fact
that being a magic circle firm helps them to establish the
clientele they have.
“It helps in the sense that there is a core of clients already
developed. Core clients of the firm – like RBS – do a variety of
different things, so there is a synergy within the firm,” he
says.
The number of outbound cross-border leasing transactions has
increased significantly since the change in UK tax rules, two to
three years ago, removed fiscal disadvantages of international
leasing, providing a wealth of business for UK-based international
law firms such as Freshfields.
Recent significant transactions include the leasing of
Securicor-style vans in Romania. In the UK, Richard Phillips,
finance partner of the firm, advised a consortium led by Babcock
& Brown in the purchasing of Angel trains, a deal worth
$3.6billion (€2.5 billion).
It has a particularly strong presence in rail, having advised
two of the three major rolling stock companies in the UK: Angel
Trains, which until recently was owned by RBS, and HSBC Rail.
Other notable clients in the sector include Danish State
Railways, Deutsche Bahn, EWS, National Express and the Strategic
Rail Authority.
It is unsurprising that aviation is its other forte, with
leading aviation lawyer Robert Murphy as head of department.
Clients include Airbus, which does a lot of leasing work as well as
being a manufacturer, and many airlines, including Air Berlin,
Iberia, Emirates, Shanghai Airlines, Lufthansa and Swiss.
Freshfields is also acting as external counsel to the Aviation
Working Group – a consortium of major aviation leasing companies,
banks, manufacturers and financiers with the purpose of
contributing to the development of policies, laws and regulations
that seek to make leasing and financing of aircrafts more
cost-effective.
For the department, business has not been hit by the credit
crunch as much as had been expected. In the transportation sector,
specialised banks in Germany continue to lend money because it is
part of their core business. Furthermore, disputes are beginning to
surface providing business lines for the firm in litigation and
insolvency.
Murphy is confident about the growth of the department in terms
of turnover, but despite successes, is not complacent
He insists: “We always have to keep on pushing.”
Firm name: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
LLP
Head of structured and asset finance
department: Robert Murphy
No of full-time AF partners in London office: 3
(and 2 senior lawyers, known as counsel)
Offices: Vienna, Bahrain, Brussels, Beijing,
Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt
am Main, Hamburg, Munich, Milan, Rome, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Moscow,
Riyadh, Bratislava, Barcelona, Madrid, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London,
New York, Washington DC, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Clients: Angel Trains, HSBC Rail UK, Danish
State Railways, Deutsche Bahn, EWS, National Express, the Strategic
Rail Authority, DVB, Babcock & Brown, Genesis Lease ABN
Amro
AF sectors: Aviation, rail, tax-based leasing
products, shipping, telecoms, film
