Current practice

Industry experience

Richard has acted for both borrowers and lenders on a range of resource project and infrastructure financings, including in the electricity, oil, gas, coal and gold industries. In doing so he has had experience in documenting transactions to cater for complicated limited recourse scenarios and cashflow management structures related to protecting lenders and in commenting on and negotiating such provisions to provide flexibility for borrowers and to protect them from common problems, such as domino cross default scenarios, arising out of such transactions. He is well acquainted with the various issues which arise from joint venture structures so common in this field.

Project and construction finance

In addition to dealing with the property aspects arising in other transactions, Richard has acted on many property financings both direct and structured. As well as dealing with the property issues, he has extensive experience in stamp duty effective structures and issues arising from development, construction and off-take risks.

Richard has worked on, among others, the following tax-based structured transactions acting for various state treasury corporations and rail authorities and US equity providers on like kind exchange, Pickle Dole, 'lease in lease out' US cross border leases and Swedish and other cross border lease transactions of rolling stock, power plants and software in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999. In these transactions, Richard has either documented (including the US documents and Swedish documents) or negotiated on his clients behalf.

He has also worked on a number of structured securities transactions having packaged and documented many of the cross-border and domestic preference share transactions in the late 1980s. More recently he has acted on structured franking credit transfers by scrip loan and structured swap for a large New South Wales bank and has just finished acting for a major investor in a domestic preference share issue where the investment was made via a series of streaming franking credit trust vehicles.

Corporate finance

Richard has acted on many corporate financings, including club loans, syndicated loans and bilateral structures both secured and unsecured. He has acted and continues to act for and advise a number of borrowers on such transactions and his past and present clients include Myer, IBM, Westfield and Lend Lease. In doing so he has gained experience not only in the general legal and commercial issues associated with such financings but also in structures to reduce the imposition of stamp duty.

Richard has acted on numerous Euro-note and Euro-bond issues by issuers such as Aviation Australia, State Bank of New South Wales (including their Global Medium Term Note Program which was the first to permit issues in Europe, the USA and Australia), Mitsubishi and Sumitomo Trust, as well as recent papered and paperless domestic and off-shore CP issues for the Westfield Trust, the General Property Trust, (including its recent long term CPI linked bonds) IBM, Prime Property Credit Trust and the Financial Assets Specialised Trusts.

In doing so he has extensively advised on issues relating to withholding tax, prospectus requirements, Corporations Act and stamp duty issues pertinent to such transactions.

He has also worked on and documented numerous derivative and other swap transactions both structured to particular transactions and generally for clients such as Westfield and Colonial State Bank. As a result he is familiar with ISDA documentation and issues relating to such transactions.

Professional background