Buchler Phillips boasts not one, but two authors among its consultants this year. Their books couldn’t be more different, yet they reflect the depth of talent and breadth of expertise that is readily accessible in our company.
Senior Consultant, Rt Hon Mark Field’s memoir The End of an Era was well received in the mainstream media during the spring. Prof David Fordham, our legal counsel, is unlikely to see his latest publication serialised in the Daily Mail, but it is an impressive deep dive into an important element of corporate finance law that is as readable as it is highly useful to students and practitioners alike.
Entitled Introduction to Syndicated Loan Finance: its Practices, Law and Markets and the Syndicated Loan Agreement, David’s work reveals a thorough, real-life grasp of the subject, gained in his three careers as lawyer, banker and university professor. As Sir Roy Goode, the doyen of academic commercial lawyers, says in his foreword, David “has a lightness of touch which belies his deep understanding of the operations of the market”.
The book’s emphasis is on practice, market structures and participants, and documents. While covering the law, it is not designed to be a legal textbook for citing before the courts, but as a handy everyday guide to be used both by lawyers and bankers.
Readers of a similar vintage to the author will particularly enjoy his scene-setting trip down memory lane, which charts the rise of syndicated loans from their beginnings in the 1960s, to the oil crisis and development of new instruments in the 1970s, banking deregulation in the 1980s, and mega-mergers between large players in the 1990s. The dramatic tightening of the international credit markets in the financial crisis of 2007-2008, followed by the sovereign debt crisis of 2011-2012 offers detailed answers to the question: what could possibly go wrong?
It becomes very clear, very quickly, that ‘context’ is hugely important. Many loans still outstanding today have terms that reflect recent history: the ‘amend and extend’ loans immediately after the financial crisis; the global rise in rates post-COVID; the switch from LIBOR to a risk-free reference rate (RFR). Fully understanding the background is critical to negotiating these agreements successfully.
David’s excellent publication will resonate with many of the experienced lenders, lawyers, corporate financiers and restructuring experts that Buchler Phillips works alongside on complex assignments week in, week out. Equally, it will appeal to those beginning their studies, careers, placements or internships in law firms, regulators, in-house finance teams or compliance departments. Already in its second edition within a year, the book is set to become a permanent fixture of the banking landscape it so expertly describes.
‘Introduction to Syndicated Loan Finance: its Practices, Law and Markets and the Syndicated Loan Agreement’ by Professor David Fordham, is published by Itshardart. It may be purchased on Amazon, or ordered from any bookshop by referencing ISBN 9781068550713 .
Buchler Phillips is an independent boutique firm, with an impeccable Mayfair London heritage, specialising in corporate recovery, turnaround, restructuring and insolvency.