Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised National Westminster Bank (“NatWest”) and UK Export Finance (“UKEF”) regarding a €100m Export Development Guarantee term loan granted to Bristow Group (“Bristow”) to acquire five new AgustaWestland AW189 aircraft to provide SAR services to the Irish Coast Guard. NatWest acted as mandated lead arranger, structuring bank, lender and facility and security agent, with UKEF guaranteeing 80% of the loan.
All parties worked closely together on this stand-out collaboration which helps Bristow achieve its goals, providing an efficient pricing outcome whilst also being a reliable financing option to extend their life-saving SAR operations to Ireland.
With over six decades of aviation solutions crossing the globe, Bristow is the world’s leading provider of helicopter transportation to energy customers, search and rescue (SAR) and aircraft support solutions to government and civil organisations across the world.
NatWest is a major retail and commercial bank and one of the Big Four clearing banks in the UK. UKEF is the UK government’s export credit agency.
The WFW London Assets & Structured Finance team that advised NatWest was led by Partner Patrick Moore, supported by Associates Alexander Kyriacou, Esteira Hiwaizi and Tim Barnett and Trainee Hayley Rowcliffe. Italian law advice was provided by Milan Partner Mario D’Ovidio, supported by Senior Associate Alessandro di Carlo and Associate Giulia Chiarvesio.
Patrick commented: “We’re delighted to have advised NatWest and UKEF on this innovative financing which both combines an Export Development Guarantee with asset financing terms and helps Bristow carry out life-saving missions. Being instructed on such a matter highlights the expertise and experience WFW brings to the table when advising on complex ECA-backed financing transactions”.
