Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised UniCredit Bank GmbH (“Unicredit”) on a €25m loan granted to Elifriulia S.p.A. (“Elifriulia”) to finance the purchase of three Airbus H145 rescue helicopters from Airbus SE. The loan was backed by German ECA Euler Hermes.
The transaction featured a complex cross-border and cross-jurisdictional purchase and financing structure comprising aspects of English, German, Italian and Spanish law.
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Ronchi dei Legionari in the northern Friuli region, Elifriulia is Italy’s oldest helicopter operator active across helicopter rescue, public passenger transport, flight education and training and aircraft maintenance.
The cross-border WFW Project & Structured Finance team that advised Unicredit on the core English law matters that governed the transaction was led by Frankfurt Partner Florian Kutzbach, supported by Senior Associate Kathy Buenaventura, Transaction Lawyer Andrés Mejía Barboza and Trainee Henry Stevenson. Paris Partner Alexia Russell and Senior Associate Hugues Hounkpati also assisted.
Milan Partner Mario D’Ovidio, Senior Associate Alessandro Di Carlo, Associate Daniele Sani and Trainee Marta Lomuscio advised on Italian law and Madrid Partner Jose Maria Anarte together with Associates Julia Belmonte and Diana Palazon on Spanish law. Frankfurt Partner Frederik Lorenzen and Senior Associate Alexander Piepenbrock also provided German law support to the core team.
Florian commented: “We are pleased to have advised Unicredit on this complex international transaction spanning a number of jurisdictions and areas of legal expertise. This assignment once again underscores WFW’s outstanding capabilities in managing challenging cross-border financing projects”.
Eliance Group and Elifriulia were advised by Deloitte Legal.
