Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) is revealed as the lender of a US$50m loan facility provided to the MPC Container Ships ASA (MPCC).
UK-headquartered Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) law firm has advised the private commercial bank HCOB, which has a strong market position in international shipping, on the MPCC loan.
The loan facility was used to finance part of the purchase price of the 2,200 teu Queen Esther (2016) and the four 1,750 teu London Trader, Trieste Trader, Madrid Trader and B Trader (all 2019) from the UK’s Lomar Shipping.
The law firm WFW Hamburg maritime team advised MPCC on the acquisition of the same vessels in early August.
At that time MPCC acquired the vessels from Britain’s Lomar Shipping for US$136.3m.
MPCC specialises in small to medium-sized vessels serving intra-regional trade routes under fixed-price charter contracts, thereby helping connect smaller ports to major intercontinental shipping routes.
The WFW Hamburg Assets and Structured Finance team advising HCOB was led by partner Clemens Hillmer, supported by senior associate Paula Wildemann and associate Anna Kirchhoff.
WFW London Partner Patrick Smith advised on matters concerning English law.
The team worked closely throughout the transaction with local counsel in Norway.
Clemens Hillmer stated: “We are pleased to have been able to advise our long-standing client HCOB on this financing. This transaction demonstrates again WFW Germany’s unrivalled ability to advise on complex, multi-national and high-value transactions in the maritime space”.
