Robert Byk > Slaughter and May > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Slaughter and May Offices
ONE BUNHILL ROW
LONDON
EC1Y 8YY
England
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Robert Byk
Work Department
Corporate and M&A
Financing
Capital Markets
Infrastructure and Energy
Leasing and Asset Finance
Private Equity
Restructuring and Insolvency
Debt Capital Markets
Project and Project Finance
Corporate and investment grade lending
Position
Partner; Robert advises on a wide range of banking, finance and corporate transactions, including acquisition and bid finance, structured finance, debt and equity capital markets and general banking and corporate work.
Career
Joined firm 1998. Partner since 2007.
Languages
Italian, German, Russian
Lawyer Rankings
London > Finance > Bank lending: investment grade debt and syndicated loans
The ‘extremely, knowledgeable and dedicated’ team at Slaughter and May provides a ‘faultless service’ to the firm’s blue riband roster of investment grade corporates across the full spectrum of their debt financing requirements. Led by Matthew Tobin, the firm has been an invaluable resource to clients from a range of sectors as they have sought to navigate difficult macroeconomic conditions, and have been able ‘to use their prior experience to obtain the best outcomes’. The scope of the work is broad and includes advice on general corporate lending, acquisition finance and refinancings, with a significant proportion of recent transactions including pricing ratchets conditional on meeting various ESG-related key performance indicators. The ‘very capable’ Robert Byk is experienced at handling sustainability-linked loans, as well as more conventional loans, including as it relates to structured acquisitions and bid financings. Sustainable metrics also inform a considerable amount of Caroline Phillips‘ workflow for corporate clients, which she advises across a range of loan and debt capital markets transactions. Aligned to the firm’s generalist ethos, Ed Fife‘s eclectic offering includes borrower side advice on treasury matters and bid finance transactions, as well as some work for lenders, including in an acquisition finance context.
London > Finance > Debt capital markets
Slaughter and May has ‘a strong team that has a good knowledge of the market‘. The firm is a market-leading adviser to issuer clients, particularly those listed in the UK, on debt issuance. Indeed, over the last three years the firm has acted for more FTSE250 issuer clients than any other firm. Its clients come from a vast range of sectors, and among them are pharma giant, GlaxoSmithKline, energy companies Drax and Norsk Hydro, and charity International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). Newly appointed practice head Caroline Phillips has a strong financial institution issuer client base. She acted for Standard Chartered Plc on the update of its $77.5bn debt issuance programme. Matthew Tobin frequently assists Westpac Banking Corporation and its New Zealand-incorporated subsidiary, Westpac New Zealand Limited with DCM transactions. He also worked with key partners Edward Fife and Kevin Howes on IFFIm’s £250m debt offering. Guy O’Keefe handled the update of Euroclear Bank’s €20bn certificate of deposit programme. Robert Byk is ‘a great negotiator‘ and emerging partner talent Charlie McGarel-Groves is ‘very competent, knows the markets well and is pleasant to work with‘.
London > Finance > Acquisition finance
Led by Matthew Tobin, Slaughter and May‘s borrower-focused generalist financing practice regularly handles acquisition finance mandates for the firm’s impressive roster of FTSE 100 and 250 clients, which are appreciative of its versatility across many different finance products, including TLB, unitranche and loan/high yield bonds. The team also excels at handling public takeover work, an area in which Robert Byk is particularly accomplished and well-versed at handling “certain funds” public bid finance.
Lawyer Rankings
- Bank lending: investment grade debt and syndicated loans London > Finance
- Debt capital markets London > Finance
- Acquisition finance London > Finance
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Bank lending: investment grade debt and syndicated loans
- Dispute resolution > Banking litigation: investment and retail
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: premium
- Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- Dispute resolution > Competition litigation
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate tax
- Employment > Employee share schemes
- Corporate and commercial > EU and competition
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Infrastructure: M&A and acquisition financing
- Insurance > Insurance: corporate and regulatory
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > IT and telecoms
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Upper Mid-Market And Premium Deals, £750m+
- Employment > Pensions (non-contentious)
- Risk advisory > Regulatory investigations and corporate crime (advice to corporates)
- Dispute resolution > Tax litigation and investigations
Firm Rankings
- Corporate and commercial > Commercial contracts
- Real estate > Commercial property: development
- Finance > Corporate restructuring & insolvency
- Finance > Debt capital markets
- Corporate and commercial > Equity capital markets – mid-large cap
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: contentious
- Corporate and commercial > Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Fintech
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Infrastructure: Project finance and development
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Oil and gas
- Employment > Pensions: dispute resolution
- Projects, energy and natural resources > Power (including electricity, nuclear and renewables)
- Industry focus > TMT
- Real estate > Commercial property: investment
- Real estate > Construction: non-contentious
- Finance > Derivatives and structured products
- Employment > Employers
- Real estate > Environment
- Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Industry focus > Life sciences and healthcare
- Investment fund formation and management > Listed funds
- Finance > Securitisation
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Sport
- Finance > Acquisition finance
- Insurance > Insurance and reinsurance litigation
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design
- Real estate > Property finance
- Industry focus > Retail and consumer
- Real estate > Planning
- Corporate and commercial > Private equity: transactions – high-value deals (£250m+)