The most current iteration of Clifford Chance came about in 1987 after the merger of Coward Chance and Clifford Turner. Today, the full service firm has 32 offices spread throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. In the United States the firm has offices in New York and Washington DC.

Focusses / specialisms

The firm has a dedicated team to aviation financing and so is quite prevalent in the aviation industry. It is also prevalent in the real estate industry, especially in the New York office, given the firm’s dedicated real estate practice. The practice represents REITs, real estate developers and real estate investors in acquisition and financing related matters for commercial, industrial and residential properties.

In the banking practice, the firm represents borrowers and lenders in export trade facility, credit facility and term loan agreements. The financing was used for acquisition financing, real estate financing, refinancing, project financing and general corporate financing.

The debt capital markets team represents underwriters and issuers in sovereign bond, investment grade bond, hybrid bond, green bond and high yield bond offerings.

On the equity capital markets side, the team also represents underwriters and issuers in secondary issuances, share offerings, at-the-market programs and tender offers.

In the derivatives practice, the firm represents issuers in forwards, swaps and other derivatives. The structured finance and securitization team represents borrowers and lenders in CLOs, mortgage backed securitizations and receivables backed securitizations.

The M&A team represents strategic and private equity acquirers and sellers in acquisitions, joint ventures and mergers across many industries.

The project development practice advises developers and financial sponsors in the oil and gas, infrastructure, energy and port industries. Many of these projects are cross border and based in outside jurisdictions.

In restructuring and insolvency, the team represents administrative agents, trustees and debtors in international financial restructurings and US based Chapter 11 and 15 proceedings.

Key clients

Key clients for the firm include Deutsche Bank, Global Jet Capital, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Scotia Capital, UBS, Caixa Econômica Federal, SIFMA, Nomura Global Financial Products, AIG Asset Management, Crédit Agricole, LATAM Airlines, HSBC, Symrise, Pfizer, Stockbridge Capital, Madison International Realty, IDB Invest, IFC, Mizuho Bank and Siemens.

Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Throughout the research period, the banking team represented mostly borrowers in acquisition financing, project financing, real estate financing and general corporate financing. It was also very active in the aviation and real estate industries.

The debt capital markets team represented a mix of issuers and underwriters in a mix of investment grade bonds, high yield bonds and green bonds. It also advised mostly Latin American countries in sovereign bonds.

The equity capital markets team also represented a mix of underwriters and issuers mostly in common stock offerings and at-the-market equity programs.

The derivatives team represented banking and non-banking institutions in forwards, swaps and other derivative transactions. Many of the transactions were regulatory based.

The structured finance and securitizations team largely worked on mortgaged backed securities. 

The M&A team was active in representing clients in acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures especially in the real estate, industrials, pharmaceuticals and aviation industries. It acted on all sides of acquisitions.

In project development, the team represented largely financial sponsors in toll road infrastructure, renewable energy and port projects. Many of the projects were based in Latin America.

The restructuring and insolvency team largely represented clients in Latin America in financial restructuring cases.

In terms of lateral moves, the restructuring and insolvency team brought over partner Michelle McGreal from Davis Polk. She also is has a specialty in banking and finance. The M&A team brought over partner Michael Bonsignore from Akin Gump. In the structured finance practice, partners James Cotins and Matthew Lyons joined from Alston & Bird. The banking and finance team lost partner Jay Gavigan, who left for Morrison & Foerster. 

Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Bayview Opportunity Master Fund Iva Trust 2019-SBR1 $135 million securitization

CPA 17 / WP Carey merger

Glencore $14.43 billion revolving credit facility refinancing

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital $350 million 5.25% green bond issue

Neoen / Altiplanto 208MWp solar power plant

Pfizer joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline

Republic of Seychelles $15 million 6.5% sovereign bond issue

Waypoint Leasing Chapter 11 restructuring