Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised CIT Group’s (“CIT”) maritime finance division as sole lead arranger on a US$70m senior secured financing for International Container Company Holdings Ltd.
The loan is secured over three large container ships operated by Maersk A/S, a subsidiary of AP Moller Maersk.
NYSE-listed CIT is a financial and bank holding company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York City. It provides financing to a wide range of industries, including aerospace and defence, transport, communication, energy, hospitality, healthcare and technology. Denmark’s AP Moller Maersk is one of the largest container ship and supply vessel operators in the world with a fleet of over 700 vessels worldwide.
The cross-border WFW Maritime team that advised CIT was led by London Partner Kavita Shah, supported by Senior Associate Nigel Willis and Associate Sadhika Shegar. New York Partner John Benson, Senior Associate Maxi Adamski-de Visser and Associate Ace Pawlikowski advised on Liberian and Marshall Islands law matters. Leading Singaporean law firm Rajah & Tann acted as local counsel to CIT in that jurisdiction.
Kavita commented: “I am delighted that we have brought this financing to a successful conclusion. That WFW was chosen to advise on this deal involving key players in both the finance and maritime sectors underlines the firm’s experience in shipping finance worldwide”.
