Photo of Caroline Courtney

Caroline Courtney

Corporate and Structured Lending Partner, London

“I advise on a broad range of loan products including syndicated lending, maritime finance, aviation finance, acquisition finance and mining. I have extensive experience in assisting clients with the lending and leasing aspects of event driven and strategically important transactions. I am recognised as being proactive, diligent and commercial.”

Overview

Professional experience

Education and qualifications

Overview

Caroline 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 maritime and aviation sectors, acquisition finance, mining and distressed lending.

In 2017, Caroline completed an eight-month secondment to the structuring team within the Global Credit Trading division of Deutsche Bank, supporting their special situations (transport, infrastructure and energy), direct lending and credit solutions teams.

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

Work highlights

Caroline’s recent transactions include advising:

Syndicated Lending:

  • Endeavour Mining Corporation on USD800m acquisition facilities to acquire Teranga Gold Corporation
  • the lenders on the £120m super senior RCF to The Restaurant Group
  • lenders providing a complex USD2.2bn letter of credit facility for a reinsurer 
  • the lenders to Reach PLC (formerly Trinity Mirror) on various facilities, including the acquisition facility used to acquire the Daily Express

Asset finance - Maritime:

  • Gazprombank on the £522m financing of two floating storage units for storage and transhipment of LNG
  • a US bank on seven secured shipping loans extended to a distressed shipping group with associated companies in global insolvency procedures
  • Hapag Lloyd on the acquisition, sale and leaseback of three ultra large container vessels, in accordance with the LMA Green Loan principles and on multiple Japanese Operating Leases with Call Options (JolCo) financings
  • a number of banks refinancing the purchasers of portfolios of distressed shipping loans

Asset finance - Aviation:

  • the sponsors and underwriters on the €2.7bn rights issue of International Consolidated Airlines Groups (IAG), the parent of British Airways and Iberia
  • a pension fund on a significant investment in a global aircraft lessor, its first aviation investment
  • China Aircraft Leasing Corporation on an innovative aircraft co-investment structure, including senior and junior debt and the acquisition of a seed portfolio of aircrafts
  • VistaJet on a number of aircraft financings provided with different financing institutions, its US$300m high yield bond issue and its corporate re-organisation

Professional experience

Education and qualifications

Caroline studied law at Trinity College, Dublin.