Banking and finance

• You are negotiating a working capital or investment facility
• You received a facility agreement to sign
• You are creating security over assets or receivables
• You are buying a home with a mortgage and want the documents reviewed before signing
• You are dealing with a covenant breach or refinancing

• Negotiating bank facilities
• Drafting and reviewing facility documentation
• Security instruments and pledge agreements
• Financing a property purchase — reviewing the mortgage and pledge documents before signing
• Structuring banking products
• Financial analysis and modelling
• Resolving disputes with banks

Standard bank documentation is drafted in the bank's favour — that is legitimate, but it does not mean the terms cannot be negotiated. There is usually room on financial covenants, default consequences and the scope of security.

We review the documentation from the client's side and flag the provisions that cause problems in practice: cross-default, restrictions on distributions, mandatory prepayment or security drafted far too broadly.

We do the same for private clients buying a home with a mortgage — we review the loan and pledge documents before signing and sequence the process so that the purchase price, the release of the old charge and the registration of the new one happen in the right order, with neither side performing blindly.