Conor Warde

Practice Areas

Conor Warde is the Head of Shipping Finance in Asia and a partner in the Hong Kong office of CMS. He has more than 20 years of experience and has a diverse practice advising clients on transactional, corporate, regulatory and policy matters with particular experience in ship finance and maritime transactional matters. He represents companies, commercial lenders, lessors, lessees and investors in international financings, M&A, restructurings, and other corporate transactions across multiple industries and involving a broad range of corporate finance and investment issues, including senior and subordinated debt financings, asset-based lending transactions, and private equity investments.

Conor also has significant experience in representing owners and operators of vessels and other maritime and offshore interests, primarily regarding private equity and ship and other asset financing transactions; ship sale and purchase and shipbuilding contracts; international and US-specific regulatory compliance; offshore drilling contracts and regulatory matters; international sanctions regimes; and pollution incident response and criminal prosecutions.

Conor has been actively involved as a lawyer in the maritime industry since 2004 and has been based in Asia since 2011. He has spoken and moderated panels at a number of conferences around the world and is an active contributor to various publications and media.

Languages Spoken

English

Industry Sector Expertise

Shipping Finance

Expert in these Jurisdictions

• Hong Kong

• England and Wales

• Republic of the Marshall Islands

• Maryland

• Washington

Work Highlights

• Advised Minsheng Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. and certain of its subsidiaries in connection with a French court-approved restructuring of the Bourbon Maritime Group.

• Represented China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. in the US$422 million sale/leaseback of 14 product tankers with Maersk Product Tankers, which was awarded the 2020 Marine Money Leasing Deal of the Year.

• Represented a leading private alternative asset manager as junior lender in the US$41,560,000 term loan refinancing of a leasing structure involving two car-carrier vessels.

• Represented a consortium of investors in the refinancing of an LNG carrier in connection with one of the largest LNG projects in South Asia.

• Represented one of the largest Chinese leasing houses on a multi-vessel lease financing for a UK-based shipowner.

Awards