Caroline Barton

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Leaders in Law endorses Caroline Barton as our exclusively recommended Finance Law expert in the Cayman Islands. If you wish to get in touch with Caroline, please use the contact information provided above.

Caroline is a partner within the Corporate department in Cayman and Group Head of Banking & Asset Finance, as well as Transport & Logistics.

Her practice areas include private equity, asset finance, corporate finance, bond offerings and structured finance. She is extensively involved in aircraft and vessel financing, subscription financing and CLOs. Caroline also has deep experience in capital markets, corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions, especially working on the buyer side of transactions.

Caroline was recently recognised by Who’s Who Legal in 2016 with respect to Aircraft Finance, and acknowledged as a ´Rising Star´ in IFLR1000´s 2015 capital markets law rankings.

She is a member of the Cayman Islands Law Society, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Cayman Islands Labour Tribunal and the Caymanian Bar Association, and a notary public registered in the Cayman Islands.

Recent highlights include advising

  • China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. in connection with just under US$1 billion loan facility to Perfect World Co., Ltd. to finance its high profile management buy-out and privatisation.
  • China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. in connection with its US$100m loan facility to Delta Health to finance the construction of its first world class cardiovascular hospital in Shanghai. Delta Health is majority owned and controlled by Fidelity Growth Partners Asia and its affiliates.
  • Seller in relation to it sale to DHT Holdings of all of its outstanding capital in Samco Shipholding Pte. Ltd. for an initial estimated purchase price of $317 million in cash. Included in the purchase were Samco´s 10 Cayman subsidiaries which hold ownership to its oil tankers.
  • A leading financial institution as lender in a uniquely structured security package in the subscription credit market whereby investors were issued shares at par value on closing coupled with a remaining obligation to fund their outstanding commitment with respect to those shares when called to do so by the Cayman company. The company in turn then granted the lender a security interest over its right to enforce the shareholders’ obligations to fund their remaining commitments.
  • Höegh LNG Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiaries in connection with the formation of Höegh LNG Partners LP, a Marshall Islands limited partnership (MLP) and the MLP´s initial public offering of 11,040,000 common units representing limited partner interests in the MLP at USD 20.00 per unit. The MLP was formed to own, operate and acquire floating storage and regasification units, liquefied natural gas carriers and other LNG infrastructure assets under long-term charters.
  • Closed 13 CLOs so far in 2015 for, amongst others, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

Education

  • University of Bristol (England)
  • Nottingham Trent University (England)

Firm Description:

We are a full service law firm providing comprehensive, expert advice and services across corporate, dispute resolution, property, regulatory and private client and trusts practice areas. We work with our clients to achieve practical solutions whether from a single location or across multiple jurisdictions.

Through Appleby Global Services, Appleby provides a range of administration, reporting and fiduciary services focused on corporate structures. Our dedicated teams of experienced professionals work closely with our legal specialists to provide our clients with an integrated legal and corporate administration offering.

We are regularly recognised for our professionalism, integrity and excellent client service, and these are the values we pride ourselves on and are at the core of our business.

Our global presence enables us to provide comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional legal advice at the times most beneficial to our clients.

 

John Gosling

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John Gosling is based in Walkers’ British Virgin Islands office where he is a partner in the firm’s Global Finance and Corporate Groups. He is also a member of Walkers’ Global Latin America Group.

John advises clients on public and private M&A (including BVI statutory mergers and schemes of arrangement), private equity and joint ventures, IPOs, debt and equity capital raisings, restructurings, partnerships, project and acquisition finance. John also has extensive knowledge in general banking, security and regulatory matters. ​

John practised in London for twelve years with Freshfields, Ashurst and Norton Rose. Subsequently, he practised for four years in the Bermuda and Cayman Islands offices of another leading international offshore firm before joining Walkers’ British Virgin Islands office in 2008.​

Walkers:

Walkers is a leading International Financial Centre law firm and a member of the International Financial Centres Forum (IFC Forum). From our offices in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Jersey, London and Singapore, we provide legal services to FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations and financial institutions, capital markets participants, investment fund managers and middle market companies.

Our global presence means we are always accessible to our clients in all time zones.

Austin D Thacker

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Leaders in Law endorses Austin D. Thacker as our exclusively recommended Finance Law expert in the USA – Florida. If you wish to get in touch with Austin please use the contact information provided above.

Austin D. Thacker is an attorney in Holland & Knight’s Orlando office and a member of the firm’s Construction Industry Practice Group. Mr. Thacker focuses on serving general contractors, homebuilders, owners and manufacturers in a range of industrial, commercial and infrastructure projects, as well as the drafting and negotiation of construction contract documents. He also represents public and private entities in roadway design and construction projects, and commercial, residential and mixed-use developments. Mr. Thacker has experience handling claims for construction defects, inefficiency/delay damages, water intrusion, construction-related product defects, lien foreclosure and contract disputes. Mr. Thacker’s experience also includes working with local governments to address the needs of clients related to zoning, comprehensive plans, concurrency, developments of regional impact, procurement issues, due diligence and property rights.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Thacker clerked at the United States Department of Justice. In addition to this experience, he has a background in banking, finance and insurance from prior roles with international financial institutions.

In the community, Mr. Thacker is active in volunteering for local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement, the Association of Christian Youth Sports and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He also currently serves as a guardian ad litem for the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association and is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and Forum on Construction Law.

Firm Overview:

For nearly 100 years, Holland & Knight has been active in the Orlando area, bringing dynamic legal assistance to vital industries such as construction, financial services, healthcare, hospitality and timeshares, private equity and venture capital, retail and consumer products, technology, and telecommunications and media. Our Orlando attorneys focus their practice on commercial litigation, corporate law, real estate and land use, mergers and acquisitions, tax, environmental law, labour and employment, and bankruptcy and creditors’ rights.

In 2016 and 2017, Holland & Knight’s Orlando office was named one of the Winners of the Orlando Sentinel’s Top 100 Companies, which notes the best workplaces in Central Florida.

Gwendoline Licata

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Gwendoline Licata focuses her practice on financial services and investment management matters.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Licata was an associate in the Finance department at a global law firm, and she also interned at the Luxembourg office of an international firm.

Firm Overview:

Dechert is a global law firm.

We deliver deep legal expertise and practical commercial judgment for high-stakes matters in sectors with the greatest complexities, intricacies and regulatory demands.

Dechert is organized by practice area, not geography. Our 27 offices around the globe are seamlessly integrated.

This approach allows us to deliver a team responsive to unique project requirements and provide the resources needed to complete work with speed-to-market execution. Our lawyers understand the current marketplace, as well as rapidly evolving commercial and regulatory challenges, making us a preeminent full-service advisor.

We are a global, mobile workforce of diverse skills and areas of expertise. We use a project management approach to our workflow, enabling us to quickly adapt to changing client needs, maximize technology, drive efficiency and deliver value to our clients.

Our work is widely recognized within the legal industry, including top global-wide rankings for corporate investigations, international arbitration, investment funds and life sciences (Chambers Global, 2017).

Mohamed Hasan

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Mohamed had initially joined our Bahrain office as a Legal Assistant in 2011. Mohamed qualified as an Attorney At Law in the State of New York in 2014. He has gained extensive experience advising the Government of Bahrain on a vast array of infrastructure projects in respect of housing, transport, and the oil and gas sectors. More recently, Mohamed has been involved in a wealth of transactions advising private investment houses and high net worth entities based in the Middle East on high profile joint ventures and sophisticated business transactions.

Firm Overview:

We want to be the law firm that clients turn to for help on the mandates that matter most to them, wherever in the world that may be.

To succeed, we must be widely recognised as standing apart from other firms because our people are exceptional and because we are international and integrated in the way we work, we add value in everything we do and we are uncompromisingly committed to our values.

Set out below is our statement of who we are. It embodies our ambition to be exceptional, our culture and our absolute determination that all of us will work with each other, our clients and our other stakeholders, day in day out, in the way we describe to ensure we achieve our long-term aim.

We enjoy our work and are determined to do an outstanding job, whatever our role in the firm. We observe the highest personal, ethical and professional standards in everything we do and operate with integrity at all times. We recognise that the reputation of our firm is vital to our success and we all have a duty to preserve and grow it for the long term.

We are a people business. We see diversity as a strength and value the fresh perspectives, creative ideas and connections that flow from bringing together people with different backgrounds. We want to create a welcoming, supportive environment in which all can flourish. No matter how challenging a matter or heavy our workload, in our daily interaction we must never lose sight of the essential human qualities that we prize.

We know we deliver best when working as a team rather than as individuals operating alone. Being a great colleague and working efficiently and effectively with our clients and other stakeholders around the world to achieve the right outcome is crucial to our success. We welcome feedback from others on how we are doing.

Stéphane Erard

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Experience:
  • Advising French and foreign companies with the acquisition of shares in French companies, of assets or businesses as going concerns in France, carrying out legal audits, negotiating the terms and conditions of the acquisition, drafting the legal documentation, application of foreign investment regulations in France.
  • Advising on the restructuring of groups, reviewing finance documentation and guarantees granted by French companies, drafting the corporate documentation relating to the restructuring and financing of French companies.
  • General corporate work.
Education:

Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2001
1999, Postgraduate in Business law, University of Paris X
1998, Graduated from ESSEC Business School

Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés:

Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés was created over 30 years ago and is now one of France’s leading business law firms.
Boasting a team of 130 lawyers, including 32 partners, and a position of undisputed leader in the property market, our firm offers French and foreign clients a fully comprehensive service in all the main fields of business law. Aware of the challenges facing our clients, Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés has, since the very start, incorporated an ambitious international dimension as demonstrated by the successive openings of 6 offices abroad (Algiers, Casablanca, Hong Kong, Munich, Shanghai and Tokyo).

In 2014, the firm joined the cooperative network, Broadlaw Group, which is a major step forward in its international strategy. The Broadlaw Group is a global network of five law firms, each of them a leader on its local market, sharing the same corporate aim of technical excellence and total commitment to their clients’ interests and independence.
Together, we represent an alternative force for intervention, with over 1,000 barristers (avocats) and in-house legal specialists (juristes) working in 28 offices in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, in the main fields of business law.

Lefèvre Pelletier & associés and CGR Legal have announced their merger the 11th January 2016 to form a new entity that will bring their lawyers headcount to 160, in 7 offices (1 in France and 6 abroad), to become one of the top 10 French independent law firms.