Caroline Courtney

Caroline is a Partner in the firm’s banking practice and is the head of the firm’s Asset Finance practice. She has extensive experience advising corporates, banks, financial institutions and sponsors on a range of complex cross-border financing transactions, including syndicated lending, loan and leasing transactions in the aviation and maritime sectors and acquisition finance. She has a breadth of knowledge across portfolio sales on buy, sell and financier side in relation to portfolios of loans, hard assets and asset owning companies.

Caroline practiced in an Irish law firm before joining Linklaters in 2013.

Work highlights

Caroline’s recent transactions include advising:

Asset finance - Aviation:

• Creditors of Azul Airlines in Chapter 11 and of Nordic Aviation Capital in their restructuring and Chapter 11

• CALC on the establishment, financing and refinancing of an innovative aircraft co-investment structure, including senior and junior debt and the acquisition of a seed portfolio of aircraft
• global coordinators on airBaltic’s EUR340m high yield bond issuance
• Infranity providing a comprehensive hybrid infrastructure / aviation financing package for Eliance, a leading Aerial Emergency Services (AES) provider, secured over a fleet over of 70 aircraft
• the sponsors and underwriters on the €2.7bn rights issue IAG
• an export credit agency on the restructuring of a defaulted financing secured on 5 aircraft
• MUFG in its US$6.3bn acquisition of the aviation finance business of DVB Bank SE S

Syndicated Lending:

• CRH plc on its EUR3.5bn revolving credit facility and separate term loan facilities
• a global consumer company on approximately US$9bn of revolving credit facilities
• Tate & Lyle on the bridge facilities and term facility used for the for US$1.8bn acquisition of CP Kelco
• a European corporate on EUR5.85bn acquisition bridge financing and EUR3bn revolving credit facility
• the finance parties providing £840m revolving credit facilities to JD Wetherspoons
• Endeavour Mining Corporation on US$800m acquisition facilities to acquire Teranga Gold Corporation
• lenders providing a complex US$2.2bn letter of credit facility for a reinsurer
• Raspberry Pi on its debt facilities pre and post IPO

Asset finance - Maritime:

• Hapag Lloyd on $1.8bn financing of 11 new build large container vessels, through three separate leasing structures in compliance with green loan principles
• the financier to a sponsor on the acquisition of 6 bulk carriers subject to bareboat charters
• advising a bank, fund and shipping company as a consortium on their acquisition of a portfolio of offshore shipping loans and hedging from NIBC Bank N.V. as the remaining part of its originally €1.5bn portfolio
• the lenders on the £522m financing of two floating storage units for storage and transhipment of LNG
• advising a lender on secured shipping loans as well as associated hedging liabilities extended to 11 members of the distressed XiHe Group in relation to 17 vesselsNaviera Armas Group on its financial and capital restructuring
• the Finance Parties on the US$292.5m term loan to the sub-sea cable laying OMS Group
• various shipping companies including SeaCube and Hapag-Lloyd AG on multiple Japanese operating lease with call options (JOLCO) and Chinese sale and leaseback structures relating to container vessels and portfolios of containers#
• providing advice in relation to complex and bespoke chartering arrangements for INEOS in connection with the development and €3.5bn financing to support the construction and operation of Project ONE, which is set to be the most environmentally sustainable ethane cracker in Europe.