Legal
Banking & Finance
Senior banking and finance legal capability for borrowers, lenders and corporate treasurers — covering facility documentation, security structures, refinancing, distressed credit and the full lifecycle of secured and unsecured lending.
Banking & Finance
Lending and credit law for borrowers, lenders and treasurers across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
Overview
How we help.
Banking and finance law sits at the intersection of complex documentation, regulatory compliance and commercial negotiation. The right structure can save material amounts of money and risk over the life of a facility; the wrong structure can lock a business into terms it cannot live with. Our banking and finance practice acts for borrowers, lenders, corporate treasurers and intermediaries on the full range of secured and unsecured lending matters — from straightforward bilateral loans through to complex syndicated facilities, project finance and distressed credit situations.
We are particularly active in mid-market lending matters where the borrower needs senior legal counsel that the bank’s in-house lawyers will respect, and in distressed credit situations where the difference between a workable restructure and a default is often the legal documentation. Our work is partner-led and integrated with the firm’s tax, restructuring and corporate finance teams when the matter requires it.
Capabilities
- Senior secured lending — bilateral and syndicated facilities
- Acquisition finance and leveraged buyouts
- Property and construction finance documentation
- Asset finance, equipment finance and chattel mortgages
- Trade finance, letters of credit and supply chain finance
- Subordinated and mezzanine finance
- Debt restructuring and amendment-and-extension transactions
- Inter-creditor agreements and security trust deeds
- Debenture and PPSR security registration and perfection
- Distressed credit, workout and enforcement matters
- Cross-border facility documentation and syndication
- Treasury policy review and corporate hedging documentation
Borrowers and lenders
We are equally comfortable acting for borrowers and lenders, though never on the same matter. Acting for borrowers, we focus on negotiating commercially workable terms — covenant headroom, cure rights, voluntary prepayment, change-of-control thresholds, information undertakings and the dozen other provisions that determine whether a facility actually supports the business or constrains it. Acting for lenders, we focus on enforceability, security perfection and the practical outcomes that matter when something goes wrong — which is when good documentation earns its fee.
Distressed credit and workouts
Our integration with the firm’s restructuring practice gives the banking and finance team particular depth in distressed credit situations. When facilities approach covenant breach, when forbearance is being negotiated, or when an investigating accountant has been appointed and a workout is in prospect, the legal documentation work becomes commercially critical. We have acted on amendment-and-extension transactions, consensual restructures, debt-for-equity conversions, security enforcement, and the full range of pre-insolvency credit interventions.
Client Situations
When clients engage us.
Most banking and finance engagements begin with a specific transaction or a specific problem.
A new facility is being negotiated
The business is taking on new debt — acquisition finance, growth capital, refinancing of existing facilities — and needs senior legal counsel reviewing and negotiating the documentation.
A covenant breach is approaching
Financial covenants are tightening and a breach is in prospect. The directors need legal advice on disclosure obligations, lender engagement strategy and the realistic options available.
An existing facility needs amendment
An amendment-and-extension, waiver, consent or other variation to existing debt documentation is required, and the borrower wants experienced counsel managing the lender negotiation.
A bank is enforcing security
A lender has commenced enforcement action — receiver appointment, security realisation, demand-and-possession — and the borrower needs immediate independent legal counsel.
Outcomes
What you can expect.
- Commercially negotiated facility documentation that supports the business
- Properly perfected security with no enforcement risk
- Clear advice on disclosure, covenants and lender engagement
- Partner-led continuity from negotiation through to enforcement if required
Why Corson Fiske
Banking law that supports the business, not just the bank.
Most banking and finance law is bank-side work — documentation drafted by the lender’s lawyers, reviewed by the borrower’s lawyers, and signed under time pressure. The result is documentation that systematically favours the lender and contains traps the borrower only discovers later, usually when the business is under stress. Our practice is different: we act for borrowers as often as we act for lenders, and we negotiate documentation as if we expect the business to need the flexibility built into it.
Our integration with the firm’s restructuring, tax and corporate finance teams means borrower clients get coordinated counsel on the commercial as well as the legal questions — and lender clients get advice from a team that has seen what happens on both sides of the table.
Get the right advice from Corson Fiske.
Confidential initial consultations with a partner.