Norton Rose Fulbright provides ‘excellent support, insight and expertise across all aspects of bilateral derivatives’. The firm has many strings to its bow, among them strong banking relationships for structured total return swap and repo financing, in-depth emerging markets sovereign financing knowledge, and market-leading Islamic derivatives insight. Nigel Dickinson, who is a key adviser to investment banks on complex, cutting-edge transactions, and derivatives, repo transactions and structured products specialist Yusuf Battiwala, who is 'user-friendly, always available, provides commercially focused advice', lead the practice. Dickinson recently assisted Natixis and a syndicate of hedge providers with a $375m multi-sourced financing and hedging programme. Global head of financial services and regulation Jonathan Herbst is particularly adept in custody and clearing. Hannah Meakin is a highly regarded regulatory expert, who focuses on market infrastructure, derivatives and fintech. Newly promoted James Kent is ’extremely responsive and keen to get involved’. He handles OTC derivatives, securities financing transactions and structured notes across multiple asset classes, including equities, credit and interest rates.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘We started using NRF since James Kent joined, he is a great addition to the team.’
‘James Kent is extremely responsive and keen to get involved.’
‘Norton Rose's DSP team is amongst the best, offering excellent support, insight and expertise across all aspects of bilateral derivatives and financing transactions, Notes and other Structured Products. They have excellent understanding of the commercial drivers of any transaction, deep market knowledge, regulatory foresight and the technical acumen needed to best position us in all of our negotiations.’
‘Yusuf Battiwala is a leading partner in this space. He is user-friendly, always available, provides commercially focused advice whilst having full understanding the legal, regulatory and regional landscape. He offers practical solutions and works very much like an extension of our in-house legal team. Very much a trusted partner and our "go-to-guy", he has built up his practice with excellent associates and counsel, but is never afraid to gets his hands dirty when called upon.’
‘The firm's derivatives and structured products practice are our global markets team's go-to legal advisors, providing exceptional legal expertise and commercial insight. A truly trusted practice that can be depended on with complex, high value and time sensitive transactions. Noteworthy mentions are Yusuf Battiwala and Nigel Dickinson who, along with their respective teams, consistently and seamlessly collaborate with our in-house legal and structuring teams across our global markets offerings.’
‘Yusuf Battiwala - very proactive and responsive, highly knowledgeable and always solutions-focused.’
Key clients
- JPMorgan
- Bank of America
- Goldman Sachs International
- First Abu Dhabi Bank
- Standard Chartered
- Bank of Ireland
- Natixis
- NatWest Markets
- British Business Bank
- CME Group
- Ministry of Finance, The Republic of Angola
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Work highlights
Advised the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) on developing an industry standard Islamic repo agreement.
Advised a syndicate of hedge banks in relation to the hedging aspects of the project financing of the 1.1 GW Inch Cape offshore wind farm.
Advised a large syndicate of hedge providers in connection with the US$375 million multi-sourced financing and hedging programme and US$140 million cost overrun facility for the development of the El Espino open pit copper mine located in the Coquimbo Region, Chile.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Nigel Dickinson; Yusuf Battiwala
Other key lawyers
Hannah Meakin; Jonathan Herbst; James Kent; Sean Bruns