About

Provided by Stephenson Harwood LLP

Stephenson Harwood is recognised as having one of the world’s leading shipping and offshore practices and its lawyers are consistently ranked as best in class. We are consistently instructed by most of the major shipping and offshore companies, energy service companies, oil and gas businesses, shipyards, insurers, commodity companies, sponsors, lenders and private equity providers. 

In shipping and offshore our lawyers advise on services spanning:

  • Finance: senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt and covering corporate finance, ship and offshore finance, blended corporate and asset finance, export credit agency backed, leasing, project finance, limited recourse and derivatives
  • Corporate: mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, debt for equity swaps, group reorganisations and restructurings, joint ventures, private equity investments and general corporate advice on a range of matters including regulatory compliance, equity incentives, competition issues and succession planning
  • Commercial: project tender processes, project documents, building contracts, pooling arrangements, conversion contracts, sale and purchase and charterparty agreements 
  • Disputes: risk mitigation, litigation, arbitration and mediation, international sanctions and arrests and enforcements
  • Restructuring: debt restructuring and refinancing, debt for equity swaps, schemes or arrangement, judicial management, chapter 11 and insolvency



Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers
Shipping: Finance - Asia-Pacific Region
1
Band 1
What the team is known for

Stephenson Harwood is a pre-eminent law firm for shipping finance, and especially valued in the region for its outstanding capabilities in Singapore, China and South Korea. The team expertly handles sophisticated loan facilities, sale and leaseback transactions, and restructuring matters for leading financial institutions and ship owners. It also regularly advises insurance, shipping and ship leasing companies. The firm maintains a significant contentious offering, utilising its extensive expertise and experience on shipbuilding and insolvency-related cases. It often represents clients in maritime arbitration and cross-border enforcement matters.

Notable practitioners

Gregg Johnston in Singapore, Zhou Hongkai in Hong Kong and Michael Kim in Seoul are key contacts for clients.

Work Highlights

Provided by Stephenson Harwood LLP
  • Stephenson Harwood advised Bank of Communications Financial Leasing on the structuring and documentation of its first container management project.

  • Stephenson Harwood acted for Damco Hong Kong in prosecuting and defending claims at the Hong Kong Court following a warehouse fire at the Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal.
  • Stephenson Harwood advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in senior secured financing of five carriers for Polaris Shipping.

Strengths

Provided by Chambers