The Legal 500 > United Kingdom - Solicitors > Guernsey > Banking and finance

Carey Olsen sits on a significant number of the elite global banks' panels, and is also noted for its equally strong borrower practice. Fund finance is a key area of expertise, with Andrew Boyce, corporate and finance practice group head and Ben Morgan, David Crosland, Tom Carey and Annette Alexander having practices that include both borrower and lender workloads, with Morgan active in deals involving UK real estate. Borrower mandates include advising major British and international private equity houses on their fund financing. Among the firm's associate bench, key names include Alexandria du Jardin, with Vaishali Gupta  and Imogen Payne dividing their time between Guernsey and London.

Mourant 'combines stellar legal advice with a strong commercial mindset' across the finance space. Helen Wyatt, whose practice includes real estate finance and funds lending took over leadership of the team from February 2020 from John Lewis, whose expertise in the banking space includes fund finance mandates, primarily for the banks. Darren Bacon handles some fund finance work alongside a capital markets practice, Frances Watson is notable for borrower-side fund finance and John Rochester covers fund and corporate finance for lenders and borrowers. Regulatory-driven restructuring work for the banks is a particular area of expertise. Alana Gillies is a key senior associate, as is BVI-qualified Cantonese speaker Pui Yee Lai, who brings with her experience in-house and international firms in Singapore. Caroline Chan retired from the partnership in April 2020.

At WALKERS, Kate Storey heads the fund finance side of the practice, with work including bank-side mandates, with counsel Zoe Hallam also active in this area. Sam Shires handles a diverse range of matters including acquisition finance and ship finance, complementing counsel Kim Paiva's asset finance expertise. Corporate and funds specialist group partner Matt Sanders also turns his hand to some prestigious real estate and fund finance deals. The firm has a strong offering in Cayman cross-over work (Hallam having been admitted there), and also attracts work from the Middle East. Adam Pickering is a notable senior associate.

Fund finance is the predominant area of focus for Appleby's practice, a space in which it primary acts for banks and where it frequently works alongside City and US firms. The practice is also active for banks in corporate finance, and  non-bank lenders in private equity deals . Group partner Jeremy Berchem heads the team, which has added two new partners thanks to the recruitment of Stuart Tyler from Babbé LLP and the promotion of Chet Pohl to group partner. Scottish-qualified associate Nicole Sorbie is also notable.

At Bedell Cristin, practice head Kate Ovenden handles real estate finance deals concerning trophy assets in London and significant local deals, acting for bank and non-bank lenders, as well as assisting with the financing of private equity deals and some fund finance, primarily around on real estate funds. Dylan Latimer, who is qualified in England, is active in borrower-side work for fund and real estate finance. Ann Halliday is a key counsel, and English-qualified Sukhvinder Chana, who divides his time between Guernsey and London, is a new promotion to managing associate - he works with Ovenden on many of the key deals.

Collas Crill's 'strong and responsive' banking offering includes Sean Cheong, who counts real estate finance in the UK as a core area of her practice. Wayne Atkinson handles banking elements of British property deals as well as agenda-setting local M&A and complex regulatory work. In addition, Australian-qualified Paul Wilkes has also been involved in corporate finance matters, as well as eight-figure UK fund finance deals. Various matters are cross-border, and in St. Peter Port Michael Morris provides English law property finance expertise. Tristan Ozanne, Alex Wickens and Simon Heggs  are key senior associates.

Ogier handles a broad range of finance work from its Guernsey office, including fund finance deals working alongside respected London firms. Christopher Jones handles the finance elements of cross-border M&A deals and fund finance, with Marcus Leese active in UK real estate finance and deals within the Bailiwick and bank-side funds work. Paul Chanter was elected to the partnership in July 2020, and key names at managing associate level include Oliver Richardson, who joined from the firm's London office, and Richard Doyle, who joined from Collas Crill in Tortola, adding another BVI-qualified lawyer to the firm's bench. New Zealand-qualified Michaela Jesson, a newly-promoted counsel, contributes to the Guernsey team from Auckland.

At Ferbrache & Farrell LLP, name partner Gavin Farrell's key areas of practice include fund finance mandates - primarily for asset managers borrowing from major banks. South African-qualified Belinda Hartzenberg is a notable senior associate and Helen McGeoch, formerly a partner at Appleby and in-house at Specsavers, joined in March 2019 as a counsel.