Richard Smith
Partner London
Richard is a partner in the assets & structured Finance group.
Richard has extensive experience in finance. His practice areas include asset and structured finance, real estate finance and general corporate lending. He acts for a mix of financial institutions, sponsors and other corporate borrowers.
Richard has been recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ for Transport Finance & Leasing by the legal directory Legal 500 UK. In 2019, Legal 500 described Richard as “very smart, dependable and hardworking”.
- Advising Edmond de Rothschild (“EDR”) on the refinancing of the offshore windfarm service operations vessel m.v. “Bibby Wavemaster Horizon” by way of a €10m junior note issue. The vessel is leased by Centrus to a subsidiary of the Bibby Group and chartered to Siemens Gamesa. This deal won Editor’s Choice Europe in IJGlobal ‘Deals of the Year 2020’
- Advising Globalstar, Inc. (“Globalstar”) on the successful refinancing of its capital structure by amending an existing senior BpiFAE supported credit facility and raising a new six-year second lien term loan facility agreed with its controlling shareholder Thermo Companies, in conjunction with EchoStar Corporation (“Echostar”), a global provider of satellite communication solutions.
- Advising TUI Cruises GmbH (“TUIC”) on the financing and implementation of its acquisition of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (“HL Cruises”) from TUI AG for US$1.3bn, excluding net debt.
- Advising North Star Renewables Limited on the financing of three service operation vessels (“SOVs”) to service and maintain the Dogger Bank Wind Farm (“Dogger Bank”) in the North Sea. The SOVs will be financed through the proceeds of a £96m issuance of notes due in 2033, subscribed to by Allianz Global Investors GmbH, the global investment management firm.
- Advising Societe Generale on a term loan granted to a Norwegian SPV managed by Clarksons Platou Project Finance AS as borrower to fund the acquisition of two platform supply vessels, the ‘Hermit Fighter’ and ‘Hermit Prosper’, and their conversion to battery hybrid emergency response rescue vessels.
Education
- 2008 · Nottingham Law School, Legal Practice Course
- 2007 · Nottingham Law School, Postgraduate Diploma in law
- 2006 · University of Nottingham, BSc (Hons) in Zoology
memberships & associations
- 2010 · Law Society of England & Wales
- PressWFW advises Societe Generale on financing and delivery of vessel “Lech Kaczyński”
- ArticleThe Financing and Bankability of Offshore Wind Vessels
- PressWFW advises Societe Generale on financing of two hybrid power vessels
- PressWFW advises North Star Renewables on Dogger Bank SOV financing
- PressWFW advises Virgin on delivery of cruise ship Valiant Lady