Banking & Finance

The Banking & Finance industry underwent a number of changes in the past years as global and regional consolidations of business and financial markets, and increased regulatory requirements shaped the industry along the years. The integration of the Maltese national market with its wider European counterpart has proven to be a game changer for the Maltese banking & finance industry and has significantly changed the financial frameworks through which companies can operate.

Chetcuti Cauchi’s Banking & Finance practice is aimed at assisting corporations through their banking & finance transactions which are conducted with the aim to promote the business’ growth and development.  We assist clients who want to borrow money to finance the company’s enterprises and raise capital for large-scale projects. Together with our Structured Finance practice, we are geared towards providing commercially-aware advice on syndicated loans, bank lending, acquisition finance (including leveraged finance), project finance, real estate finance, asset finance, Islamic finance and financial services regulation.

Syndicated Loans

Syndicated Loans, also known as syndicated bank facilities, are utilised in cases where a single borrower, usually a large corporation, a special project or sovereignty such as a government, needs capital in order to undertake an extensive project which is more than what a single lender can offer. Alternatively, syndicated loans are also utilised when a certain enterprise requires a specialised lender which can offer experience of a specific asset type. Moreover, syndicated loans are also opted for in the leveraged buyout sphere to provide finance for large corporate takeovers with primarily debt funding.

A syndicated loan is offered by a group of lenders, known as a syndicate, which work conjointly to provide capital for the large-scale single borrower’s activities. Syndicated loans take the form of a fixed amount of funds, or a credit line, or even a mix of both. The syndicated loan facility gives the possibility to borrowers to access the funds they need while mitigating the risk of the borrower by spreading it among different lenders such as banks and institutional lenders, including pension funds and hedge funds. Therefore, if a borrower defaults, no one lender is left irrevocably crippled, and vice versa, if one lender falters, the borrower will not be left completely vulnerable.

Typically, for a syndicate loan to be granted, one must first find an arranger which acts as a lead bank, or underwriter of the loan, often acting as a main lender by putting up a proportionally bigger share of the loan, or else carrying out various duties such as diffusing cash flows amongst other syndicate members and carrying out administrative tasks.

Our Banking and finance team can assist you through the process of negotiating with banks in order to acquire a syndicate loan and managing the loan. Our clients seek our guidance and experience which gives them the peace of mind that their largest and most significant transactions are being managed by seasoned and highly qualified professionals who have vast experience in the banking & finance sector.

Our Banking & Finance Practice

Besides offering counsel on complex transactions such as syndicated loans, our banking & finance practice also offers services to any kind of company. We extend our services to start-up companies and huge corporations alike, and offer sound advice and practical solutions even during the most challenging times. Our Banking & finance team draws expertise from a multi-disciplinary group of seasoned lawyers from our Banking, Capital Markets, Corporate, Tax, Litigation and Real Estate practices who have a wealth of experience in working with Banks in Europe, the Americas and Asia. We offer counsel on a variety of banking & finance matters, including the granting of loans, property loan transactions and mortgages, syndication, collateral, security enforcement, professional secrecy, online banking transactions, e-commerce transactions and merchant accounts and general licensing as well as compliance issues.