Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Shenzhen Financial Leasing (Group) Co., Ltd. (“Shenzhen Financial Leasing”, formerly known as CIMC Capital Ltd.) on a direct lease of 10 locomotives manufactured in the People’s Republic of China for delivery to a Turkish logistics company. The direct lease is backed by Chinese ECA SINOSURE as part of the Belt and Road Initiative and is Shenzhen Financial Leasing’s inaugural deal in the rail sector. The locomotives, which are being built by China’s CRRC Dalian, will be delivered to Turkey in two batches with the first delivery estimated in 2026.
A subsidiary of Shenzhen Capital Holding Co., Ltd. and China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Financial Leasing is China’s leading provider of financial services to the container, offshore vessel, and modular building sectors with a global footprint spanning mainstream markets in Asia, the Americas and Europe.
The WFW Asia team that advised Shenzhen Financial Leasing was led by Asia Asset and Structured Finance Group Head and Partner Madeline Leong, supported by Singapore Senior Legal Manager Arrow Zhang and Hong Kong Associates Joey Cheung and Wanying Cui.
Madeline commented: “We are delighted to have acted for Shenzhen Financial Leasing on this complex cross-border rail transaction which represents their determination to support China’s foreign trade and the Belt and Road initiative. We are grateful for the various parties’ support and co-operation on this deal which was vital in ensuring that we closed the transaction within a very tight time frame notwithstanding the challenges from the Turkish tax and legal regulations. That we were able to do so demonstrates our expertise in structuring difficult ECA-backed financing in the transport sector effectively and efficiently”.
