Banking Associate

Associate

Ashurst's banking team

May 2017

About Ashurst

Ashurst is a leading global law firm with a history spanning almost 200 years, and clear strategy for our future growth. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing exceptional standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law. To find out more please visit here.

Our people are our greatest asset. We bring together lawyers of the highest calibre with the technical knowledge, industry experience and regional know-how to provide the incisive advice our clients need.  How we share our knowledge across our business, and with our clients, is critical in delivering value to our clients.

We currently have 25 offices in 15 countries and a number of referral relationships that enable us to offer the reach and insight of a global network, combined with the knowledge and understanding of local markets. With 395  partners and a further 1229 lawyers working across 10 different time zones, we are able to respond to our clients wherever and whenever they need us.

Our clients value us for being approachable, astute and commercially minded. As a global team we have a reputation for successfully managing large and complex multi-jurisdictional transactions, disputes and projects, and delivering outstanding outcomes for clients in innovative ways.

Ashurst regards an inclusive and diverse environment as critical to its business success.  Accordingly, the firm encourages applications from candidates representative of all talent pools.  Find about more about our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy on the "About Us" section of our website.    

In order to comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks.  These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations

Recent work:

Bank of America, N.A. - acted for Bank of America as agent and lead arranger under an asset-based revolving credit facility and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC as agent and joint lead arranger first-lien and second-lien credit facilities made available to the Doncasters Group.

Barclays Bank and HSBC Bank – acted for Barclays and HSBC in relation to acquisition term debt and invoice discounting facilities made available to finance the acquisition of ABI Caravans by CBPE.

Guggenheim – acted for Guggenheim on the financing of LDC's acquisition of Addo Foods, which was lent alongside invoice discounting facilities provided by PNC.

H.I.G Whitehorse - acted on the refinancing of IGM Resins which was funded by a borrowing base facility from Deutsche Bank and a unitranche facility from H.I.G. WhiteHorse.

Emergevest – acted for NFT, an Emergevest portfolio company, on buy out financing from Investec involving an integrated loan and asset based lending product.

Natixis - €30m committed syndicated revolving working capital facility to Outokumpu Copper Tubes S.A.U. secured on a borrowing base composed of eligible inventories and receivables relating to copper cathodes.

CH4 Limited - €200m borrowing base facility, used to re-finance the acquisition of certain North Sea oil and gas assets.

UK Borrower - £280m invoice discounting facility and £165m term facilities.

Formula One - acted for Bank of America Merrill Lynch as sole arranger and coordinator of the $4bn recapitalisation of Formula One.

RPC Group - acted for RPC Group plc in connection with its £770m revolving credit facility which was used to part-finance the consideration for the UK public takeover of British Polythene Industries plc.

Pret a Manger - advised a syndicate of senior lenders, including Rabobank, Goldman PIA, Bank of Ireland, BNP Paribas, HSBC, ING, RBS and Societe Generale, on the increase of senior debt facilities made available to the Pret a Manger group to circa £570 million.

Team overview:

Ashurst's banking practice is recognised by its clients to be one of the most innovative and solution orientated legal practices in the City today.

As the challenges to our clients have increased over the last few years we have stayed true to our core offering of legal technical excellence wrapped in commercial awareness. This has enabled Ashurst to continue to fulfil the role of being a trusted advisor to our clients and strengthened our close relationships. The practice continues to go from strength to strength and currently has 19 partners and 46 other fee earners.

Job overview:

We are currently looking for a mid-level qualified Banking lawyer with significant experience in asset based lending and some experience of leveraged/acquisition finance and other secured lending transactions to join our team in the London office or in the Glasgow office.  Ashurst's Banking practice offers specialist advice on a broad range of banking products.  This role would particularly involve:

• asset based lending (including invoice discounting and receivables financing);
• buy-outs and other acquisition finance transactions; and
• secured and unsecured lending transactions.

You can expect to have exposure to a wide range of high quality transactions.  You would typically act on all elements of a financing from term sheet stage, through to closing and post-closing.  Your specific areas of responsibility will be to draft and negotiate term sheets, intercreditor agreements and facilities agreements, supervising and leading a team of junior lawyers and ensuring a smooth process to transaction close.   The role will also involve your advising borrowers and/or other lenders in the capital structure (e.g. providers of term acquisition debt) as to their rights and obligations vis a vis asset based elements of the overall financing package.  We would expect you to progress to running transactions and managing junior associates with limited partner supervision as your career progresses.

You would also be expected to manage projects that have been assigned to you, and liaise closely with colleagues, clients, counterparties and other advisers.  You would be working as part of a committed and inspired friendly team that enjoys its work and considers itself a leader in its field of practice.  All members of the team have frequent client contact and must be willing to travel.

Typical responsibilities include:

• Drafting and negotiation of facility, intercreditor and security agreements;
• Contributing to department know-how and developing precedent documents;
• Advising clients;
• Negotiating with counterparts and actively contributing to calls; and
• Providing supervision and on-the-job training to juniors.

In addition to strong technical skills, you should be able to demonstrate an enthusiasm for business development and strong interpersonal skills as there will be significant client contact, in both the work and business development context.  You will be expected to understand the importance of developing client relationships and a desire to build develop your own client network with support and guidance from the partners and wider team.

Essential skills and experience:

• Qualified mid-level Banking lawyer with experience from a major law firm;
• Strong general banking experience and in particular experience of asset based lending;
• Experience of drafting, reviewing and negotiating legal documents and agreements in a private practice environment;
• An adaptable person who is a fast learner;
• A team-player who can work effectively with colleagues at all levels;
• Client facing experience and the ability to understand and respond effectively to client needs;
• Experience of negotiating with counterparts;
• A commercial approach.

Career advancement:

An established Associate Career Path Framework is in place clearly defining expectations and outlining opportunities for promotion.

Secondment opportunities:

Opportunities often arise for associates to spend time on secondment in house with a key client of the firm. From time to time, secondment opportunities also come up within other Ashurst offices in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Role open  Friday 26th May 2017

Role closed Friday 23rd June 2017