Trinity News

Welcome to the January 2012 edition of Focus and Happy New Year from Trinity.

We are delighted to welcome to the Trinity team two new members of the team. 

Cam Brockie joins us from McDermott Will & Emery where he was a partner. He was also a senior associate at Clifford Chance in London for several years.  Cam has extensive experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors including acting on a broad range of power, oil and gas, pipeline, road, fuel storage and infrastructure related matters.  Cam primarily advises clients on transactions or projects in the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia. Cam is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. According to Chambers UK 2011, Cam ‘gains recognition for his excellence on design, build, maintenance and other commercial contracts work‘.

Ana-Katarina Hajduka joins us in January 2012.  Ana-Katarina trained and qualified as a solicitor at Allen & Overy LLP in London before moving to Fulbright & Jaworski LLP where her practice involved energy, LNG and other oil & gas work in Iraq, Russia and Eastern Europe.  Ana-Katarina has wide-ranging experience in project financings, with a particular emphasis on the oil & gas sector.  Ana is qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales and as an Attorney in the State of New York, has just completed an MsC in International Relations at the London School of Economics and speaks fluent Croatian, Russian and Spanish. 

We wish Cam and Ana-Katarina well for their future at Trinity. 

Closed deals 

We had a busy end to 2011 with several deals signed or closed. We closed or signed documentation in relation to the following transactions:

– the acquisition financing of a Zambia-based utility holding company;

– a financial institutions loan to a West African development bank;

– the finance documentation relating to a combined ferry, road, solar power and water project in Uganda; 

– an oil & gas trade finance transaction in the Philippines; and 

– the refinancing of a leading Africa-focussed infrastructure fund, acting for a series of multilateral and development bank lenders. 

We were also pleased to learn that two of the bids on which we represented Lenders were successful in the first phase of the South African renewable energy IPP programme. 

New instructions

We have been instructed on the following new matters:

– a loan to the airports authority of a West African capital city, acting for a commercial lender;

– advising on the existing contractual structure relating to a convention centre in a key East African city;

– advising the lenders on a major real estate financing in Ghana; 

– advising a Dutch bank on its loan to a large Turkish construction consortium;

– advising sponsors in relation to a potential hydro power project in West Africa;

– advising on the expansion of an existing IPP in Uganda;

– advising in relation to an East African energy saving project;

– advising in relation to a parking concession in Lagos, Nigeria. 

– advising commercial lenders in relation to a Nigerian acquisition financing; and

– advising a European power developer in relation to a geothermal project in Ethiopia. 

We continue to work day-to-day on transactions in Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia and Nigeria as well as in the UK and Romania.

Article

In this month’s article, Trinity’s Head of Private Equity, Hugh Naylor looks at the recent case of Erlson Precision Holdings Ltd v Hampson Industries plc which highlighted a key issue for sellers of a company in relation to disclosure and the temptation to conceal bad news from a buyer. The case highlights the fact that there is a positive obligation on key individuals within a firm to correct misleading information which a third party acquirer is relying on even where the person who has such information is not directly involved in the sale process. 

Legalese 

In this month’s legalese, Senior Associate Kaushik Ray looks at the varying levels of sanctions that can be applied by the UN, the UK and other governments and the key differences between them. 

Getting in touch

As ever, if you have any comments or questions about Focus, or generally, please get in touch.

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