Nicole is an Associate in the Singapore Transactional team, focusing on the maritime and aviation sectors.
She has experience acting for various European, Singaporean and other Asian banks, financial institutions and other lending entities in connection with ship financing as well as refinancing transactions. She acts for both sellers and buyers in a variety of ship sale and purchase transactions, and has experience with ship and mortgage registration across a number of jurisdictions.
Nicole also assists in advising airlines, lessors, banks and investors on a gamut of aviation transactions, from finance to all varieties of aviation related matters such as finance leases, commercial lending, aircraft secured bonds and operating leases.
Key Experience
- Acting for various banks, financial institutions and other lending entities on, inter alia, financing and refinancing for purposes which include, amongst others, vessel acquisition and working capital requirements.
- Acting as lead counsel for various banks, financial institutions and lending entities on loan refinancing and/or restructuring exercises conducted by various borrower groups, consisting of entities incorporated both in Singapore as well as outside of Singapore.
- Acting for sellers and buyers in a variety of ship sale and purchase transactions, and assisted with liaising with the Singapore registry on vessel de-registration and registration. Such sale and purchase transactions encompass transactions involving sale and purchase of the vessel as the asset in question as well as sale and purchase of ship-owning companies (with the owned vessel(s) included as part of the sale).
- Acting for a Singapore bank on its US$70 million sustainability-linked loan extended to one of Taiwan’s largest listed bulk carrier companies, to finance construction of two new 210,000 dwt bulk carriers.
- Acting for five out of six of the secured lenders on the refinancing exercise conducted by Ezion Holdings Limited and its group of companies in 2018, involving, inter alia, the refinancing of an outstanding amount of approximately US$1.5 billion due to the secured lenders as well as the grant of additional working capital of approximately US$118 million.
- Acting for two Singapore banks on the restructuring exercise conducted by a borrower group in respect of approximately US$100 million due to the banks, which involved, inter alia, significant coordination between the banks and foreign counsel in connection with the imposition of shared security across a fleet of 17 Indonesian flagged vessels in favour of the banks.
- Acting for an UAE entity as buyers in the purchase of 22 vessels, all of the shares in two Singapore-incorporated subsidiaries and part of the shares in a Malaysian incorporated subsidiary from a group of companies under judicial management in Singapore for US$20.5 million.
- Conducting due diligence on the S$8.7 billion merger of Singapore's two main shipyard groups as well as acting in a connected transaction involving the sale of certain legacy rigs and associated receivables to a new entity.
Career History
Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Senior Associate, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
Associate, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
University of Southampton, LLB (Hons) 2016