Paul Holland > Dentons > London, England > Lawyer Profile

The ‘very responsive and strong’ four-partner team at Dentons is best-known for its aviation-related work, where it has a ‘great awareness of the  commercial sensitivities’ unique to a myriad different stakeholders, including banks, lessors and operators. In addition to the firm’s core asset finance prowess, the team is also able to draw upon broader competences within the firm, as well as to leverage vast international resources, a one-stop-shop service which is particularly appreciated by major airlines. Paul Holland  is conversant with a broad array of financing transactions (including those utilising commercial and export credit-backed debt), and has provided vital support to several major airlines, including Emirates, during fraught financial and operational times during the pandemic. Stephen Temple has a deep understanding of the commercial sensitivities of clients in the operating leasing market, work which he combines with a strong airline practice that includes TAP Portugal, which he advises across a myriad work alongside Serge Sergiou . Temple co-heads the team alongside Sarah Dyke , whose broad-based asset finance expertise also covers work in the maritime field. Senior associate James Francis  is also a key member of the team and ‘has extensive experience in JOLCOs and ECA financings’, while at the other end of the seniority spectrum, Nick Chandler  has a consultancy role, having recently retired from the partnership.

Dentons is ‘very well versed in DCM and has experts on every topic‘, though its emerging markets work extends beyond bond issuance and restructuring. The London team leverages the firm’s global office network to handle market-leading projects and financings in Africa, the Middle East, the CEE and CIS regions, as well as Latin America. Head of banking and finance Paul Holland leads the emerging markets group in London. He recently acted for HSBC Bank plc, co-ordinating local counsel in Finland and Brazil, in a secured $780m buyer credit facility for a major Brazilian paper and pulp producer. Debt capital markets partner Nick Hayday ‘instils confidence in clients, is a safe in his hands‘. He advised CPI Property Group on a €700m sustainability-linked bond offering. Debt capital markets specialists Cameron Half and David Cohen  also play key roles in the practice. Half is a key adviser to Hidroelectrica S.A. and assisted the client with its proposed €2bn IPO and listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Derivatives and structured debt partner Matthew Sapte and trade and export finance specialist Ian Clements are frequently involved in emerging markets transactions, and Dominic Spacie advises banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, contractors, and government entities on international PPP, PFI and concession-based infrastructure-related projects. John Inglis, formerly of Shearman & Sterling LLP, joined as a consultant.