Driving growth and managing risk in every trade finance transaction
As economic conditions shift and regulations evolve worldwide, our clients face new risks and uncertainties. We help you stay ahead, providing clear guidance and practical solutions in a complex environment. Whether it’s the plain vanilla documentation of Letters of Credit or more complex synthetic securitisations – we can help. Our Australian team’s expertise in trade, commodity and export finance law ranges from helping financial institutions to develop their product offering to working with leading corporates across a range of sectors. Our focus is on helping you manage risk, unlock value, and achieve your commercial objectives—no matter how the market moves.
Strategic Solutions for Every Challenge
We can help both domestic and international clients get their goods to where they are needed quickly and effectively. This could involve providing you with up-to-date market intelligence on trade flows or helping to devise highly structured and technical financing products.
A range of lenders, borrowers and export credit agencies benefit from our trade, commodities and export finance lawyers’ advice. We work with clients in the natural resources sector (including coal, nickel, bauxite, iron ore, zinc, copper, aluminium, lead and oil) and advise clients in the soft commodities and agriculture sector (including wheat, grain, sugar and food production) in particular.
Our legal advice on trade, commodities and export finance covers:
Letters of Credit (LOC) – advising, safekeeping, confirmation, checking and documentation
Pre-Export Finance
Export Bills
Export Credit Agency (ECA) Financing
Import Bills
Shipping Guarantees
Import Financing Performance Bonds
Bills of Lading
Factoring & Forfaiting
Credit Derivatives
Synthetic Securitisations.
Our experience includes:
HSBC: on a secured Trade Finance Facility for the purpose of financing Sino Nickel’s purchase of metal ore shipments from suppliers.
HSBC: on a secured Trade Finance and Documentary Credit Facility to finance Yunnan Copper’s purchase of metal ore shipments from suppliers.
EFIC: in connection with many facilities for export credit support by way of letters of credit / guarantees to facilitate Australian exports.
An Australian Bank: providing facilities to Chinese banks to support the provision of trade finance facilities by Chinese banks to Chinese companies.
An Australian Bank: in preparation of its standard trade finance documents for use in its Hong Kong business and also an international bank in preparation of its standard trade finance documents for use in its China business.
International Banking Syndicate: providing syndicated trade finance facilities to Trafigura VB (the international commodities trading house).
Australian and International Banks: in connection with financing of commodities such as grain, wheat, barley, sorghum, and canola to various companies such as AWB, Graincorp, Gavilon Grain, Manildra, Emerald and Cargill.
International Banks: on various resources trade finance terms and service level agreement.
Standard Chartered Bank: local insurance and trade finance documentation.
ANZ: UCT review and trade finance documentation including (USP,ICC terms).
International Bank: in preparing standard documentation for buyer’s credit facilities and preferential governmental loans, and on financings to an African government and other facilities to offshore borrowers.
Sinosure: on the political risk insurance cover in respect of a US$1.5b loan facility for an oil production and sale transaction.
Siam Commercial Bank: review and update of all trade finance documentation for Australian law requirements.
