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Summary
Chris Lowe joined Watson, Farley & Williams
in 1990 and is now Head of the Singapore office and International Finance
Group in Asia. Chris specialises in asset, project, trade and structured
finance. Chris is named as a leading lawyer in the Asia Pacific Legal 500
and Chambers Global and was named a leading lawyer in the Euromoney’s
“Guide to the World’s Leading Aviation Lawyers”.
Recent Experience
- Advising the Asian subsidiary of a leading
European oil and gas transportation group, in relation to its acquisition
of a gas carrier business involving ten gas carriers and an agency business
as part of the expansion of its Asian operations
- Advising a joint venture between Japanese
and Norwegian interests in relation to the Snøhvit LNG project in northern
Norway
- Advising Brunei Gas Carriers and its sponsors,
Shell, Mitsubishi and the Brunei Government in relation to a US$129m Islamic
lease of a newbuild LNG carrier
- Acting for Singapore Airlines Limited in
connection with the sale of four Boeing B747-400 aircraft to DVB Bank N.V.
special purpose vehicles for a purchase price in excess of US$120 million
together with the financing arrangements relating thereto and novation
of existing dry leases to Air Pacific Limited and Air Atlanta Iceland.
In addition a series of engine swaps were entered into post
delivery
- Advising DBS Bank Ltd in connection with
a S$15,000,000 short term loan facility and S$9,200,000 banker’s guarantee
facility to Herrenknecht Asia Headquarters Pte Ltd in relation to the
construction
and refurbishment of four tunnel boring machines to be used for the construction
of the new circle line MRT in Singapore. The machines are leased
to Woh Hup Pte Ltd and its joint venture partners Shanghai Tunnel Engineering
Co Ltd and Alpine Mayreder
- Acting for The Export Import Bank of China
("CEXIM") in relation to a loan facility made to Sevan Production
AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian company, Sevan Marine ASA
- Advising a trading company in connection
with the provision of a structured advance payment sale and purchase facility
of US$150 million to Pertamina for the purposes of procuring the sale/purchase
of petroleum products. This was achieved by way of a back-to-back sale
and purchase arrangements. Critical issues included placing and advising
on the political risk insurance product and underlying Letter of Credit
facilities
- Acting for DBS Bank Ltd in respect of a
UK Tax Lease financing for approximately US$166 million in relation to
three bulk carriers and two product tankers for a Malaysian lessee. The
transaction was arranged by Allco, the lessor is a subsidiary of Lloyds
TSB Leasing Limited and letter of credit support was provided by DBS Bank
Ltd
- Advising a bank in connection with tax-driven
structured facilities for a Swedish group company, with parent guarantor
support. This innovative derivative-based structure involves a
US$50,000,000
loan as well as a US Dollar / Euro forward currency option and a fixed/floating
interest rate swap. The transaction has been structured to utilise
and to benefit from, inter alia, the general tax incentive scheme in Singapore
for Finance & Treasury Centers (the “FTC status”) and the FTC
status
of the Swedish group's Singapore company
- Advising ING in respect of a US$250,000,000
syndicated loan facility to the Singapore subsidiary of the Wan Hai group
of Taiwan. This was the largest ever syndicated loan provided to
the group and was arranged by ING Bank N.V., DBS Bank Ltd., First Commercial
Bank Co., Ltd., Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Ltd., The International Commercial
Bank of China and ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and the syndicate was made up of a
variety of Taiwanese, Singapore and Taiwanese/Singapore branches of European
banks
- Advising the Teekay Group in relation to
the restructuring of its tanker business involving a fleet of twenty-four
ships and the related shipping contracts. Work undertaken on this
transaction included corporate restructuring, advising on sale and purchase
instruments and leasing arrangements, advising on various tax and regulatory
issues in relation to the restructuring, advising on corporate issues arising
as a result thereof and co-ordinating local counsel and tax advisors in
relevant jurisdictions including a refinancing of debt in excess of US$450
million
- Advising I.M. Skaugen ASA in relation the
restructuring of its gas carrier business involving ten gas carriers flagged
in Hong Kong and Singapore and the shipping agency as part of the restructuring
of its Asian shipping business. Work undertaken included advising
on the regulatory issues and transfer of shares and assets in the relevant
jurisdictions, advising on restructured pooling arrangements and a complex
share transfer and share restructuring including a refinancing of its US$
revolving currency facilities
- Advising GPS in relation to the conversion
and operation of a mobile offshore production unit for the Maleo Joint
Venture in East Java, Indonesia. This included advising on all aspects
of the loan documentation, project structure, project documentation and
liaising and coordinating Indonesian counsel. The project is worth
approximately US$60 million
Education and Qualifications
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1989
| Admitted Hong Kong
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1987
| Admitted England and Wales
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1984
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University College of Wales,
Aberystwyth |
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