Counting lenders and borrowers among its key roster of clients, Baker McKenzie is noted for its expertise in matters concerning leveraged finance, fund finance and private credit, and is complemented by the firm’s wider aviation finance and real estate finance groups. An expert in aircraft financing, Andrew Lockhart leads the group and Kenneth Ching acts for banks, alternative capital providers, private equity sponsors and corporate borrowers on a range of cross-border financing transactions. Sally Hung maintains a stellar reputation acting for lenders on structured financings, PRC-related financing, real estate financings and large cap syndicated financings.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Appropriate staffing with a good level of partner engagement throughout the execution process.’
‘Kenneth Ching is well versed in general banking, leveraged and fund finance matters. They are pragmatic in approach and very easy to deal with.’
‘The team is experienced in cross-border debt financings and has a good understanding of the requirements of both state-owned enterprises and privately-owned enterprises of Chinese corporates. As the Hong Kong or English law counsel, Baker McKenzie is also familiar with PRC or other overseas financing structures and security arrangements and thus able to provide one-stop and timely financing solutions to all parties.’
‘The team is very responsive and efficient in addressing each party's concern which is critical in acquisition financings or even general corporate financings with extremely tight transaction timeline. Highly focused on major documentation issues during the negotiation process and very proactive in communicating with overseas counsel during cross border financing transactions.’
‘Baker McKenzie is well-known for managing cross-border financing deals for PRC corporates. They are well connected and be able to provide one-stop shop solutions.’
‘Sally Hung is a veteran in banking and finance, and she is very experienced in managing cross-border financing transactions for PRC clients. She manages to handle complex situation and provide relevant advice to clients.’
'The team is able to provide professional advice with deep market understanding.’
‘They have been doing a fantastic job and working closely with our team in the past few years. They managed to maintain the high standard even under great time pressure.’
Key clients
- China CITIC Bank International Limited
- China Lesso Finance Limited
- CNCB (Hong Kong) Investment Limited
- Securities and Futures Commission
- Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited
- The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC)
Work highlights
Advised a syndicate of 15 lenders in the debut syndicated loan financing to New Development Bank (NDB).
Advised China Lesso as borrower's counsel in light of recent regulatory changes for PRC enterprises to borrow any medium to long-term foreign debts under the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC) Order 56.
Acted for CNCB (Hong Kong) Investment Limited in an up to $100m to VNET, a data centre service provider listed on NASDAQ with its principal place of business in China.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Andrew Lockhart
Other key lawyers
Kenneth Ching; Sally Hung