EXPERTISE
Rachel is Head of the Structured Finance and Securitisation practice.
Rachel brings over 35 years of experience (27 years as a partner) at major international law firms in London and Paris (including 17 years in the securitisation team at Clifford Chance where she was a partner) advising all market participants, including lenders, arrangers, originators, borrowers, servicers, issuers, investment managers, funds and bondholders, across the full spectrum of structured finance and debt capital markets transactions.
Rachel’s practice focuses in particular on public and private securitisations and other structured financings covering all business sectors and across all major asset classes, including RMBS, consumer loans, SME loans, CMBS, infrastructure, whole business securitisations, trade receivables and structured warehouse financing. She regularly advises on the application of the EU and UK securitisation regulations, including risk retention and reporting requirements.
Rachel is also considered an expert in CLOs and other structured products and has a wealth of experience in restructurings and liability management, including critical strategic advisory work and risk mitigation, unwinds, refinancings, consent solicitations, bond buy-backs, exchange offers, tender offers and bondholder meetings.
Consistently ranked in the legal directories for many years, Rachel is considered to be a "leading individual" in her field.
- Experience
Rachel's experience includes:
- Securitisations (public and private, rated and unrated) and other structured financings covering all business sectors and across all major asset classes, with particular expertise in real estate (residential and commercial), consumer finance, trade receivables, SME loans, infrastructure and whole business securitisations and including Simple Transparent Standardised (STS) securitisations. Rachel has extensive experience in the consumer finance sector and related structured warehouse transactions and pre-funding arrangements, having acted for many years for arrangers, originators and servicers.
- Principal finance, asset-based/borrowing-base finance, structured warehouse finance, forward flow arrangements, receivables finance, note issuance facilities and liquidity funding structures;
- CLOs, CDOs and other structured products, including structuring, advising on regulatory matters and overseeing due diligence of loan portfolios;
- Repackagings (including of residual interests in RMBS transactions), asset-backed MTN and CP programmes and asset-backed bonds;
- Servicing/cash management advisory work in the context of securitisations and other funding structures;
- Portfolio purchases and sales (including personal loans, mortgages, leveraged loans, corporate loans, distressed assets and NPLs), including advising on strategy, running auction processes, overseeing due diligence processes and advising on warranty breaches and claims;
- Structured finance/capital markets specific aspects of business purchases and sales, including running auction processes;
- Liability management generally, providing critical strategic advice to board/executive management teams including in relation to risk mitigation;
- Multiple major corporate restructurings, covering the structured finance/debt capital markets aspects; restructurings of securitisations, CLOs and other structured financings and connected strategic advisory/liability management work; and
- Debt capital markets instruments generally, including public, private and retail offerings of stand-alone bond issues and EMTN programmes, commercial paper programmes, exchangeable and convertible bonds, credit and index-linked notes and advising in relation to high yield bonds.
RECENT EXPERIENCE includes acting for:
- a European financial institution in relation to a "dual track" sale and securitisation of a large mortgage portfolio;
- Sainsbury's Bank in respect of its inaugural £725m STS securitisation comprising a large portfolio of consumer loans;
- an international insurance company in relation to a € multi-billion project comprising a highly complex, multi-jurisdictional financing structure;
- a leading international diamond dealer and trader in connection with its multi-jurisdictional securitisation of a revolving pool of diamonds and receivables and subsequent restructuring;
- An international insurance company in connection with its highly complex global restructuring involving the transfer of a large pool of disparate financial assets across multiple jurisdictions;
- Metro Bank on its investment in unsecured personal lending via the RateSetter platform.
- Languages
- French - fluent
- Professional Memberships
- Law Society of England and Wales
- Avocat à la cour, Paris
- Testimonials
It is rare to meet a lawyer so technically competent and commercially aware
Rachel is a very experienced structured finance lawyer who is a pleasure to work with. Her knowledge and approach are top of the class and she sets the standard for others
Legal 500
Rachel goes the extra mile and her ability to grasp a concept and deliver a solution is exceptional – what she doesn't know in her field isn't worth knowing.
She is deeply respected as de facto one of the most experienced structured finance lawyers in the City
Chambers
