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HELICOPTERS

WATSON FARLEY & WILLIAMS KEY FACTS

130+ PARTNERS

14 OFFICES

FOUNDED 1982

OVER 400 LAWYERS

OVER 20 LANGUAGES SPOKEN

11 COUNTRIES

HELICOPTERS 2

Supporting clients across the sector We work with clients throughout the aviation industry, including:

export credit agencies banks and financial institutions arrangers investors insurers manufacturers aircraft operators lessors and leasing companies airlines and tour operators private clients.

Experienced aviation practice Our aviation team has more than 25 yearsʹ experience in transacting business in the helicopter market. We work for a wide spectrum of clients in relation to the full range of helicopter assets, from VIP helicopters, to emergency medical service (EMS) helicopters, to search and rescue (SAR) helicopters and on to large transport aircraft for the oil & gas sector. Our experience enables us to deliver successful transactions and projects through a thorough understanding of the structural, tax and jurisdictional issues that may arise, whilst tailoring our service to each client’s specific needs.

OUR AVIATION PRACTICE: HELICOPTERS

The aviation team at Watson Farley & Williams is at the forefront of the industry. Through our long standing sector involvement we have developed thorough and specialised knowledge, which allows us to develop innovative and commercial solutions for our clients.

“…HIGHLY REGARDED TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT…”

CHAMBERS EUROPE 2014

3 Watson Farley & Williams

Effective international cooperation Our aviation team operates as an integrated cross-border practice and provides a comprehensive legal service to all participants in the aviation sector. The team encompasses our finance, tax, corporate and commercial, restructuring, insolvency and litigation practices. The diverse spread of aviation sector experience across our international offices allows us to provide clear and pragmatic legal advice.

Specialist services The skilled and dedicated lawyers in our aviation team have a wide range of helicopter experience and provide a variety of legal and tax services to the industry, including:

helicopter acquisitions and sales(including associated registrationsand deregistrations)

PDP financings for both individualhelicopters and helicopter fleets

lease portfolio structures andsingle operator structures

structured finance tax efficient structures ECA backed financings Islamic financings credit enhancement techniques offshore finance leases tax leases capital markets ownership structuring (including

owner trust and voting truststructures)

crew, maintenance and supportagreements

regulatory, taxation, importationand VAT issues

enforcement (including aircraftrepossession, de‑registration andenforcement proceedings).

Some selected examples of our experience are shown on the following pages.

“ACTIVE IN THE AVIATION SPACE AND HAS TEAMS ACROSS EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA CAPABLE OF HANDLING MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL WORK.”

CHAMBERS GLOBAL 2014

HELICOPTERS 4

SEARCH & RESCUE Acting for a subsidiary of a UK public listed company on the purchase, refurbishment, leasing and financing of six Bell 412EP helicopters for use by the UK MoD in search and rescue operations.

OFFSHORE OIL Advising a client on the purchase, financing, registration, leasing, and operation of two Eurocopter EC135 P2i helicopters for use in offshore oil related work.

PDP FINANCING Advising a UK bank on the PDP financing of a minimum of three AgustaWestland helicopters for an Irish helicopter lessor.

HELICOPTER OPERATOR Advising a UK helicopter operator on the hire purchase financing of two AW139 search and rescue configured helicopters for operation in the UK.

HELICOPTER MANUFACTURER Advising a helicopter manufacturer on a series of transactions in which they provided manufacturer support.

VIP HELICOPTER Advised on the lease of a new helicopter in VIP configuration, including the purchase contract and maintenance arrangements.

CHC HELICOPTER Advising CHC Helicopter on the financing of over 100 helicopters in CHCʹs global fleet through a mixture of commercial bank facilities and ECA‑backed facilities.

OPERATING LESSOR Acting for an international operating lessor in respect of a sale and leaseback of a Bell 412EP helicopter to a Singapore company for operations in Indonesia.

SELECTED EXPERIENCE

“EXTREMELY GOOD AT GOING THROUGH SMALL DETAILS; VERY THOROUGH.” CHAMBERS UK 2015

SHORTLISTED:

INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR

THE LAWYER EUROPEAN AWARDS 2014

HELICOPTERS 6

CHC HELICOPTER Advising CHC Helicopter on the restructuring of its global helicopter leasing portfolio.

US AVIATION Advising US Aviation in connection with a claim for damages in relation to a helicopter crash in France.

CHC HELICOPTER Advising CHC Helicopter on the purchase, leasing and operation of its financed helicopter fleet in jurisdictions such as Brazil, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mexico, Malaysia, Australia and the UK.

HELICOPTER OPERATOR Advising a helicopter operator on the leasing of one Eurocopter EC155 helicopter for operation in Brazil.

ECA FINANCING Advising the lead Arranging bank on its Coface-backed financing of the first Airbus Helicopters AS332 C1e Super Puma helicopter for an Irish helicopter operator for use in Kosovo carrying out utility and medevac work for an inter-governmental aid mission.

CHC HELICOPTER Advising CHC Helicopter on an operating lease facility of up to US$202m with Milestone Aviation, for up to 12 helicopters (including Sikorsky, Eurocopter and AgustaWestland helicopters), its third facility with Milestone.

OPERATING LESSOR PORTFOLIO FINANCING Advising the lead Arranger and the lenders on the US$350m financing of a portfolio of helicopters for the purpose of offshore oil and gas operations.


NICOLA DAVIES Partner London

LAURENCE MARTINEZ-BELLETPartner Paris

MEHRAAB NAZIR Partner Singapore

+44 20 7814 8408 [email protected]


+65 6551 9130 [email protected]

TEAM PROFILE

JAHNAVI RAMACHANDRAN Partner London

REX ROSALESPartner, Global Head of Transport London

SIVA SUBRAMANIAMPartner Singapore




HELICOPTERS 8

CHARLES VIGGERS Partner Paris

ALEXIA RUSSELL PartnerParis

MICHAEL SAVVA Senior Associate Dubai

+33 1 56 88 44 40 [email protected]




“…HIGHLIGHTED FOR ITS AVIATION FINANCE WORK, WHICH INCLUDES ECA-BACKED FINANCINGS AND HELICOPTER TRANSACTIONS.”

CHAMBERS UK 2015

“[WFW’S] ‘GLOBAL COVERAGE’ AND ‘HIGHLY EXPERIENCED SENIOR PARTNERS’ MAKE IT AN ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE.”

LEGAL 500 ASIA PACIFIC 2015

“…PRAGMATIC AND HANDS ON…”

CHAMBERS UK 2015

“HIGHLY COMPETENT IN TRANSPORTATION MATTERS, WITH EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING OF FINANCING AND REFINANCING.”


“THE FIRM’S AVIATION PRACTICE CONTINUES TO GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH...”

LEGAL 500 UK 2014

“AN ESTABLISHED NAME IN THE ASSET FINANCE MARKET, WITH A PROVEN TRACK RECORD...”

CHAMBERS ASIA 2014

“COMMERCIAL AWARENESS: ‘I ENJOY THEIR VERY PROACTIVE APPROACH; I SEE A CERTAIN COMMERCIAL UNDERSTANDING FROM THEM’.”

CHAMBERS GLOBAL 2014

“THE LAWYERS ARE VERY CLEAR AND PRECISE IN THEIR EXPLANATIONS.”


“THE PARTNERS TAKE A HANDS-ON APPROACH AND ARE CAPABLE OF HANDLING COMPLEX, CROSS-BORDER DEALS.”

CHAMBERS ASIA PACIFIC 2013

“ON THE AVIATION SIDE, HIGH-PROFILE MANDATES COME FROM BANKS, ARRANGERS AND CORE MANUFACTURERS.”


“[WFW’S] PRACTICE HAS GROWN SIGNIFICANTLY IN SIZE AND RECOGNITION ... THE SEVEN-LAWYER TEAM PROVIDES ‘SOUND ADVICE’.”

LEGAL 500 EMEA 2013

REPUTATION

HELICOPTERS 10

Athens

6th Floor, Building B 348 Syngrou Avenue Kallithea 176-74, Athens

T: +30 210 455 7300

Bangkok

Unit 902, 9th Floor GPF Witthayu Tower B 93/1 Wireless Road Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

T: +66 2 665 7800

Dubai

Level 15 – Tower 2 Al Fattan Currency House Dubai International Financial Centre PO Box 506896, Dubai

T: +971 4 278 2300

Frankfurt

Ulmenstraße 37-39 60325 Frankfurt am Main

T: +49 69 297 291 0

Hamburg

Jungfernstieg 51 20354 Hamburg

T: +49 40 800 084 0

Hong Kong

Units 1703-1707, One Pacific Place 88 Queensway, Hong Kong

T: +852 2168 6700

London

15 Appold Street London EC2A 2HB

T: +44 20 7814 8000

Madrid

C/ María de Molina 4 28006 Madrid

T: +34 91 515 6300

Milan

Piazza del Carmine 4 20121 Milan

T: +39 02 721 7071

Munich

Gewürzmühlstraße 11 - Courtyard 80538 Munich

T: +49 89 237086 0

New York

1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10036

T: +1 212 922 2200

Paris

26 avenue des Champs-Elysées 75008 Paris

T: +33 1 56 88 21 21

Rome

Piazza Navona 49 00186 Rome

T: +39 06 684 0581

Singapore

6 Battery Road #28-00 Singapore 049909

T: +65 6532 5335

OUR OFFICES

ATHENS BANGKOK DUBAI FRANKFURT HAMBURG HONG KONG LONDON MADRID MILAN MUNICH NEW YORK PARIS ROME SINGAPORE

All references to ‘Watson Farley & Williams’ and ‘the firm’ in this publication mean Watson Farley & Williams LLP and/or its affiliated undertakings. Any reference to a ‘partner’ means a member of Watson Farley & Williams LLP, or a member or partner in an affiliated undertaking, or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing

and qualification. The transactions and matters referred to in this publication represent the experience of our lawyers. This publication is produced by Watson Farley & Williams. It provides a summary of the legal issues, but is not intended to give specific legal advice. The situation described may not apply to your circumstances. If you require advice or have question or comments on its subject, please speak to your usual contact at Watson Farley & Williams. This publication constitutes attorney

advertising.

100‑000‑2544 LON KW KW 07/07/2014 © Watson Farley & Williams 2015

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