Chris Lowe
Partner

Chris joined Watson Farley & Williams in 1990 with a focus on asset, project and structured finance. His practice is highly respected in the market, with Chambers Global describing him as an “asset finance expert”. During his time with the firm, Chris has acted as Office Head in Copenhagen and Singapore and Head of the Global Maritime Group. In January 2014 he was appointed Managing Partner of the firm along with Lothar Wegener.

• Advised KfW IPEX-Bank, and ABN AMRO Bank N.V. together with the Export Credit Agencies of Germany, Poland and Holland, on the ECA-backed multi-currency term loans and performance bond facilities for the construction of an offshore pipe laying vessel and a pipe laying installation system for the Ceona Group.
• Advised Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, in relation to the Container Terminal Operator Sub-Concession Agreement and the project financing of a deep water port in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
• Advised the Asian Development Bank in connection with the financing of a US$4.25 billion, 4,000MW Mundra coal fired ultra mega power project being developed in India by Tata Power Company. Nine ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each have been announced by the Government of India and Mundra is the first of those to execute loan agreements for financing. Asian Development Bank is one of the lenders financing Mundra, along with others including The Export-Import Bank of Korea, the State Bank of India, BNP Paribas and Korea Export Insurance Corporation.
• Advised Galoc Production Company and Vitol Marine Asia in relation to the project financing and development of the Galoc Oilfield offshore Palawan, Philippines.
• Advised Armada Oyo Ltd. on a five-year US$190 million limited recourse loan facility with a club of seven mandated lead arrangers for an FPSO conversion to operate offshore Nigeria. SMBC acted as structuring bank, documentation bank and SACE coordinator on behalf of the team of mandated lead arrangers.
• Advised Bumi Armada Berhad on the contracts for a US$700 million deal with Vietnam-based Hoang Long Joint Operating Company for the supply and lease of an FPSO to be deployed at the Te Giac Trang oilfield, offshore Vietnam.
• Advised GC Rieber Shipping ASA, listed on Oslo Børs, in relation to its investment in Bluestone Offshore Pte Ltd through Reef Subsea AS, a company jointly owned by RISH and HitecVision, a private-equity investor based in Norway.
• Advised Brunei Gas Carriers Snd Bhd (“BGC”) in relation to the raising of US$505 million to fund its newbuilding programme. BGC, incorporated in Brunei Darussalam arranged a long-term Islamic financing facility of up to US$505 million with Fortis Bank S.A./N.V. Singapore Branch, Standard Chartered Bank and Brunei Investment & Commercial Bank.
• Advised MISC Capital in relation a US$1 billion transferable syndicated loan facility with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Mizuho Corporate Bank, OCBC (Malaysia) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. This deal was nominated as ALB SE Asia Asset & Corporate Finance Deal of the Year.
• Advised United Arab Chemical Carriers in connection with the shipbuilding contracts and acquisition of eight 45,000 dwt chemical tankers to be built by SLS in South Korea.
• Advised Citibank N.A. as lease arranger and for a syndicate of international banks led by Mega International Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. as agent and loan arranger in relation to the US$286 million sale and leaseback of four 6,000 TEU containerships by Wan Hai Lines.
• Advised the Indian Energy Group, Aban Offshore regarding the financing of its mandatory offer to acquire the Norwegian listed drilling company Sinvest in a US$800 million deal. To finance the acquisition, Aban raised funds by way of Convertible Notes with Merrill Lynch acting as placement agent. Aban also raised financing by way of a series of facilities including a medium term facility underwritten by UTI Bank for US$100 million. The offer was successful and Aban gained access to Sinvest’s five jack-up rigs, including three under construction in Singapore.
• Advised DVB Bank, ING Bank and BTMU Capital Corporation on the purchase and manage-back arrangements and financing to acquire 60% of Florens Container Holdings’ container portfolio. Florens, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cosco Pacific Ltd, sold approximately 600,468 TEUs for approximately US$870 million to BUSS Group, a leading KG issuing house for container funds. Structured as a sale and manage-back transaction, the containers will continue to be managed by Florens, who will deal with rental renewals and container disposals and will continue to liaise with container lessees on behalf of new owner BUSS.
• Advised 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.

• 1989: Admitted Hong Kong
• 1987: Admitted England and Wales
• 1984: University College of Wales, Aberystwyth

• 1996-present: Watson Farley & Williams (London 2012-present; Singapore 2001-2012; London 1999-2001; Copenhagen 1996-1999) Partner
• 1990-1996: Watson Farley & Williams, London/Copenhagen, Associate
• 1987-1989: Holman, Fenwick & Willan, Associate