The shipping and offshore industries provide many opportunities for traditional and non-traditional investors and financiers alike. At Reed Smith, our lawyers are familiar with and understand the particular issues, risks and liabilities you face as an owner, investor or financier in the maritime sector.
You will experience pressures and challenges in providing or sourcing finance and investment, in both the shipping and financial markets. Innovation in the structuring and restructuring of investment and financing arrangements has become necessary to help you find targeted solutions and maximizes your opportunities.
Whether an acquisition, a traditional bank loan, private equity investment, a joint venture arrangement, or a restructuring is the way forward, our lawyers can help you plan for, structure and determine the most effective investment or financing arrangement.
Debt financing and alternative funding structures in the shipping industry
One of the biggest challenges in today’s shipping industry is the changing nature and availability of ship financing. Our lawyers have significant experience working with both traditional and alternative financing structures including syndicated and bilateral pre- and post-delivery debt finance, ECA-backed loan facilities, sale and leaseback transactions, structured financings, residual value guarantees, credit enhancement documentation and related collateral. We can assist you in determining the best option and setting up the most beneficial financing structure.
Investment in shipping assets or corporates
Whether you are seeking to invest in a shipping or offshore company or looking to purchase a fleet of vessels or invest through the construction of newbuildings, we can assist in all aspects of investment into the sector. Our lawyers can advise on the full range of transactions including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, as well as related corporate and shipping legal due diligence, shipbuilding contracts, the sale and purchase of second-hand vessels, fleet purchases, ownership and management structures, and ongoing chartering and trading support.
Private equity and funds in the shipping industry
We lead the market in representing fund and private equity clients investing in the shipping and offshore sectors, advising on different types of transaction structures and investment routes, catered to each fund or private equity client’s individual strategy and risk profile. We can advise on all aspects of fund and joint venture formation, investment in shipping assets, structures and loans, loan and asset portfolio sale and purchase on both the buyer and the seller side, regulatory compliance and acquisition financing.
Shipping and capital markets
Raising money through capital markets transactions is often an attractive option for companies looking to raise capital. Our shipping and capital markets lawyers can guide you through the rules and regulations surrounding capital raisings and are also able to draw on our financial and regulatory lawyers where required. We have worked on capital raising and other transactions on the NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, HKEX, ADX and other international exchanges, as well as on secondary offerings, private placements (including on the Norwegian OTC list), Rule 144A offerings, convertible debt offerings and straight debt offerings (both high yield and investment grade), and SEC reporting including periodic filings, other SEC compliance requirements, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Shipping restructuring and bankruptcy
Changes in our industry mean that restructuring transactions and bankruptcies are becoming increasingly prevalent. Our shipping lawyers, working together with our global commercial restructuring and bankruptcy lawyers, constitute one of the premier international practices concentrating on complex financial restructurings, workouts, bankruptcy cases and other matters involving financially distressed transactions in the shipping industry, in multiple jurisdictions and cross-border venues. Our combined shipping and restructuring teams have acted for clients in many of the most high-profile restructuring transactions and bankruptcies in recent times.
Vessel enforcement and shipping litigation
Our premier shipping litigation team provides strong support to our transactional practice with respect to shipping-related litigation and arbitrations, as well as arrest and enforcement work (a particular area of focus relating to the implementation of post-enforcement strategies following distressed loan acquisitions). We assist on restructurings and workouts, including acting for shipowners, financiers, liquidators and administrative receivers. You will benefit from end-to-end guidance on all your transactions.
