The Legal 500

Clifford Chance’s structured finance practice provides a breadth and depth that remains unsurpassed. This large team enjoys good relationships with the major banks and other financial services entities, and fields numerous highly regarded individuals. CMBS loan restructuring has been a substantial source of recent work, while other highlight matters included advising CA-CIB, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale on Europcar’s €1.3bn securitisation and RBS on a €500m car loan securitisation. Unicredit, Bank of China, HSBC and Standard Chartered are key clients. Clients appreciate the ‘appropriateness of advice and the strong business acumen’, and point out the ‘extremely high knowledge and availability of partners’. Arne Klüwer has ‘a deep understanding of securitisation and experience in German restructuring cases’.

Hengeler Mueller’s ‘market-leading’ practice is excellent for innovative work, such as advising on new structured finance products or on bad bank restructuring issues. The team advised the Highstreet-Joint-Venture on restructuring the financial debt obligations of the Highstreet syndicate, one of the market’s largest CMBS restructurings. The team also advised BNP Paribas, Unicredit and HSBC on covered bonds programmes, and acted for WestLB and Santander regarding a €600m securitisation of auto loans. Daniel Weiß ‘never fails to impress’, and London-based German lawyer Martin Geiger is ‘outstanding’.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has attracted high-profile instructions such as advising Bayerische Landesbank on whether to claim damages against former supervisory board members regarding losses accrued via ABCP conduit programmes. The team continues to advise the German Financial Markets Stabilisation Fund on the transfer of loans and securities totalling €173bn from HRE to FMS Wertmanagement, and advised GMAC Bank on the securitisation of auto loan receivables. Christoph Gleske and Bernhard Kaiser are recommended.

Linklaters LLP’s team is ‘excellent in terms of business knowledge, commitment and turnaround times’, and works closely with the capital markets group to advise clients on equity structures, securitisations and the restructuring of existing securitisations. It advised on the €1bn true sale securitisation of a revolving consumer receivable portfolio originated by a German corporate, and on a €1bn synthetic securitisation of a SME loan portfolio for Commerzbank. LBBW received advice regarding retail commodity backed notes under the Platino structured retail programme. Kurt Dittrich is ‘pragmatic and co-operative’, and Laurenz Uhl ‘provides solutions rather than pointing out issues’.

Allen & Overy LLP has notable expertise in covered bonds programmes, where it represents several leading clients, and in the derivatives arena. Barclays instructed the team to advise on a €900m covered bonds programme and the team continues to advise Eurex on creating a derivatives clearing platform. Other clients include Citigroup, Unicredit, SEB and Société Générale. Okko Behrends is recommended.

Baker & McKenzie has a high market share for asset-backed securities (ABS) transactions and has particular expertise regarding auto loans, where it recently acted for Volkswagen Financial Services concerning a €953m auto lease receivables backed securities transaction. The team also advised WestLB on Gallinat Bank’s first public transaction to securitise lease receivables and hire purchase receivables originated by affiliates. Matthias Eggert is ‘an excellent negotiator’ and displays ‘a high level of knowledge’, and Dietmar Helms is regarded as ‘the expert in auto loan securitisations in Germany’.

Sidley Austin LLP has a substantial practice in CMBS restructuring, and recently acted for an international bank to restructure a CMBS loan on a portfolio of over 30 German properties. It advised WestLB on amending existing trade receivables transactions and on a new pan-European trade receivables transaction, and advised a German investment bank on implementation of the new capital rules regarding securitisation transactions. The well regarded Oliver Kessler leads the three-partner team.

White & Case LLP has been busy advising on covered bonds, CMBS and RMBS restructurings, plus ABCP conduit work and asset-based lending matters. The team advises on UniCredit’s ABCP programmes, acted for Helaba on its ABCP programme, and has been instructed by Belltrend Menorah, Barclays Capital and Hatfield Philips on CMBS and RMBS restructurings. It also advises DWS and Deutsche Bank on CLO and CDO restructurings. The practice is advising the City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein on the restructuring of HSH Nordbank. Ulf Kreppel is recommended along with Dennis Heuer, who ‘presents well-founded findings in a condensed way’.

Ashurst LLP is increasingly visible in securitisation matters and CMBS restructurings. It advised Lukoil on a €2bn structured exchangeable note, Santander on the securitisation of €1bn consumer loans, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on its German programme. Tobias Krug ‘deploys his team effectively’ and has ‘a fantastic ability to focus on important elements’.

Hogan Lovells International LLP focuses on advising funds and clients in the derivatives field, and has been particularly busy advising on securitisations of trade and leasing receivables. One area of expertise is auto loan receivables, where the team is known for advising Ford Bank, and the practice also acted for LBBW as arranger of a €100m trade receivables securitisation through an ABCP programme. The group notably advised on the establishment of Germany’s first and second bad bank. Sven Brandt is well regarded.

Mayer Brown LLP’s growing team has expertise in auto loan matters, and it recently advised HSBC on an auto loan securitisation originated by Ford. Another key area is consumer loan securitisations, where the team counts Santander Consumer Bank among its clients. It also advised Smurfit Kappa on a pan-European trade receivables securitisation. Ralf Hesdahl is recommended.