It was the moment that the insurance industry and consumers throughout the UK had been waiting for since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic: the final ruling on the appeal of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s business interruption case. The judgment in January 2021 brought guidance for businesses and the watchdog as to whether […]
A dispute between financial technology provider Wex Inc, and Optal and eNett became the first major case to be hosted in the Commercial Court which was triggered by an abandoned deal during the Covid-19 crisis. For Freshfields dispute resolution associate Eid-Daniel Jadon, who joined the firm as a trainee in 2015, the landmark WEX case […]
The turmoil and smut of real life Hollywood played out in London’s High Court over 2020, in a high-profile libel case brought by Johnny Depp over a newspaper article in The Sun which labelled him a “wife-beater”. Depp and Amber Heard’s acrimonious separation and aftermath had attracted global press attention, wound up in allegations of […]
A fully-remote trial the scale and magnitude of PJSC Tatneft v Bogolyubov & Others was a first for all involved. The 12-week trial, in which Fieldfisher’s commercial litigation team successfully defended its client Igor Kolomoisky, was the longest fully remote Commercial Court trial to date. For lead associate Yuliya Kupchenko, Tatneft was the largest litigation […]
As the world evolves in the realms of technology and innovation, so the number of disputes will rise. CIS General Insurance, the insurance branch of the Co-operative Group (CISGIL), took on IBM in a £130m dispute over claims it was behind the failed implementation and operation of a major cloud-based insurance platform for the Co-op. […]
Eddy Eccles, who works across the commercial litigation and international arbitration spaces, had already had a hand in cases arising from the former CIS region before his standout role in Avonwick Holdings Ltd v Azitio Holdings Ltd & Ors [2020] EWHC 1844 (Comm). The Covington & Burling senior associate brought with him experience from his […]
Charity Kids Company spectacularly hit the news in 2015 when it fell into insolvency, stating its finances had become stretched because of the numbers of children “pouring” through its doors for help. Fingers were pointed at flamboyant chief executive Camila Batmanghelidjh who, pictured in the coverage in her trademark multi-coloured turban and kaftan, was compared […]
Dentons cross-border team advised Coventry Building Society on one of very few prime RMBS issues post-pandemic, and the first new UK Master Trust to come to market in more than a decade. This was a master issuer structure re-invented for the current market, which built on and enhanced many of the features of the older […]
Ashurst advised BP on its $12bn debut corporate hybrid debt issuance, which at the time was the largest multi-tranche corporate hybrid ever priced. This issuance was a strategically important transaction for BP and a significant step to improve BP’s liquidity, strengthen its balance sheet in response to challenges posed by covid-19 as well as supporting […]
Baker McKenzie advised as lead counsel to Firmenich on each interconnecting step of the flavour and fragrance giant’s €2.25bn hat-trick financing last year, including, the debut bridge loan to support its bid; its debut senior eurobond to part fund the acquisition; and its debut hybrid bond to bolster its capital structure and preserve its investment […]
Vinson & Elkins (V&E) advised the initial purchasers and super senior facility lenders in connection with Tullow Oil’s $2.38bn refinancing. The Issuer was under scrutiny from its creditors for some time before this transaction. At the end of 2020, it had a market capitalisation of around $850m and net debt of around $2.4bn and was […]
Investec Bank, a major player in the fund finance industry, has worked with the Cadwalader fund finance team for over 15 years. For this deal, the two teams came together to try to solve a liquidity, devising a first of its kind structure to bring in institutional capital into the fund finance industry with a […]