Guy O'Keefe > Slaughter and May > London, England > Lawyer Profile

The finance practice at Slaughter and May is ‘extremely thorough and knowledgeable, and it almost anticipates the client’s needs, so the engagement process is seamless and efficient‘. Clients remark that ‘transactions are led by the partner, and the firm has a very good understanding of our risk threshold and objectives‘. Richard Jones now leads the practice, bringing to bear his experience in credit card, store card, point-of-sale, personal loan, auto loan and mortgage receivables transactions. He worked with associate Xian Wei Yeo to assist NewDay Cards on the issuance of €285m in notes under its master issuer asset-backed notes programme. Versatile finance partners Oliver Wicker, who acted for Lendco Limited as originator of a £384m RMBS, and Guy O’Keefe are central to the practice. Caroline Phillips  has a strong track record in trade receivable securitisations.

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‘.

Slaughter and May has ‘very broad experience of transactions in the market giving the ability to advise on latest developments‘. Oliver Wicker and Guy O’Keefe are the key partners in the derivatives and structured products work, and client praise their ‘commercial and pragmatic approach with the ability to focus on and resolve key issues quickly‘. The firm is a key adviser to high-profile corporate treasury clients on regulatory activities and derivatives matters. Ed Fife advises corporates, governmental entities and financial institutions, among them the Central Bank of Egypt and TreasurySpring Management, on secured lending and derivatives transactions, while Richard Jones (who has ‘a good business understanding and is good at driving processes forward‘) handles derivative and servicing arrangements relating to securitisations.