James Warbey > Milbank > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Milbank has one of the most active Euro CLO transaction practices in London, and it acts for a host of leading players in the market, among them KKR, BNP Paribas, Polus Capital Management, and Bain Capital. Recognised as a leading adviser to European CLO managers, the firm has some of the most prominent partners in this space, notably practice head James Warbey,  John Goldfinch, and Claire Bridcut, who is a key member of the firm’s alternative investments practice and focuses heavily on CLOs and bespoke structured lending deals. Reflecting its prominent position in the market, the practice continues to be involved in market-leading deals, a prime example being the €324m issuance of CLO notes by Adagio X EUR CLO Designated Activity Company, in which Goldfinch acted for AXA Investment Managers US Inc. Goldfinch also advised Bain Capital Credit U.S. CLO Manager II, LP on a €385m deal, which introduced a new construct into CLO documentation to permit and optimise CLO participation in certain liability-management techniques such as the Asset Priming Transactions and Uptier Priming Transactions.

At Milbank, ‘the team is very knowledgeable and very willing to help find the best solutions in a complex financing‘. Clients praise the firm’s ‘in-depth knowledge of the derivatives framework, efficient communication, and problem solving‘. Lead partner James Warbey is an acknowledged derivatives expert and he recently worked with associate Adrian Kwok to assist Athens International Airport S.A. with its issuance of more than €1.1bn in bond loans, which required extensive hedging arrangements. Key partner Claire Bridcut handles bespoke structured lending deals, together with portfolio total return and credit default swaps. For National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank, special counsel Robert Wyse-Jackson assisted Warbey with complex hedging arrangements in connection with the €680m financing for the development and expansion of the Skouries gold minimum project in Greece.