Current practice
John joined Freehills in 1991 and is a partner in the banking & finance practice. His major areas of practice are project financing and structured tax-based financing, although he has experience in various other areas, including the financing of construction and resources projects, property, acquisition and general corporate financing. John is a co-author of the 'Loans and Project Finance' chapter of The Laws of Australia Encyclopaedia.Industry experience
Project finance
John’s project and construction finance experience stems mainly from his involvement in the power, gas and transport sectors and the financing of various other major infrastructure projects. Recent transactions in which he has acted include:
- acting for bank syndicates (including ABN AMRO, ANZ, CBA, RBS and WestLB) in bids for the construction and operation of the Sydney Cross City Tunnel and the Lane Cove Tunnel
- acting for a bank syndicate comprising of the ANZ, BNP, Dresdner and the CBA in their project financing of the construction of the Brisbane Airport Rail Link Project sponsored by Transfield and Macquarie Bank
- acting for Dresdner and BNP Paribas in their construction financing of the Woodside office tower in Perth
- acting for different lending syndicates and equity providers in the project and lease financing of the acquisition of the Swanston Trams, Bayside Trains and Hillside Trains franchises in Victoria
- acting for a bank syndicate comprising CBA, Westpac, WestLB and Sumitomo in their proposed project financing of the bid by the Freight Australia Consortium to acquire National Rail and FreightCorp from the Federal and NSW Governments
- acting for the CBA in its project financing of the UR-3R Waste Treatment Facility operated by GRL at Eastern Creek in NSW
- acting for the APT/ANZIS/ABN Amro Consortium in the construction, operation and project financing of the Trans Territory Pipeline in the NT
- acting for the BT/Nova Gas Consortium in the project financing and leasing aspects of its bid to acquire the Dampier to Bunbury Gas Pipeline in WA
- acting for Transfield/ABN AMRO in relation to the design, construction, operation and financing of the SWIS Peaking Power Plant in Kemerton, WA
- acting for the financiers in the project financing of the Redbank Power Station in NSW and the Oakey Power Station in Qld
- acting for bank syndicates (including BNP, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, CBA, Chase, Citibank, RBS, SG, UBS, WestLB and Westpac) in bids for the acquisition of ETSA (the electricity distribution network in South Australia), PowerNet (the electricity transmission grid in Victoria) and the Hazelwood and Loy Yang A Power Stations in Victoria
- acting for Centre Re in its mezzanine debt financing of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Project in Qld.
In addition to the drafting and negotiation of documentation, John was intimately involved in the structuring of these transactions so as to meet the consortium's primary tax objectives, while at the same time preserving the integrity of the security structure from the lenders’ perspective.
Structured transactions
John has extensive experience in both tax-based and balance sheet structured transactions. Recent transactions on which he has worked include:
- acting for the CBA in the US leveraged lease 'QTE' financing of the air traffic control system operated by Airservices Australia
- acting for Australia Post in the US leveraged lease 'QTE' financing of high technology mail sorting equipment
- acting for Queensland Treasury Corporation on both the US leveraged lease 'Pickle Dole' financing of Units 1, 2 and 3 of the Stanwell Power Station in Queensland and the US leveraged lease 'lease in-lease out' financing of Unit 4 of that power station
- acting for the NSW Treasury Corporation on the US leveraged lease 'lease in-lease out' financing of the Mount Piper Power Station in New South Wales
- acting for the CBA, ANZ, HSBC, NAB and Westpac in the domestic lease securitised financing of Holden’s High Feature V6 Engine Plant in Melbourne and acting for the CBA in its structured financing of ION’s engine block plant in Altona
- acting for the CBA in the operating lease financing of two Roll-on, Roll-off ferries for Toll Transport
- acting for WestLB in the domestic lease financing of six Boeing 737 Aircraft operated by Virgin Blue and its pre-delivery financing of another 15 Boeing 737 Aircraft for Virgin Blue
- acting for the CBA and WestLB in the securitisation financing of various Amcor manufacturing plants around Australia
- acting for Babcock & Brown on the retail issue of indirect infrastructure bonds to finance the construction of the Mount Isa gas pipeline by AGL
- acting for various financial institutions in relation to their principal-to-principal tax-based structuring funding arrangements.
John’s role in these transactions included the drafting and negotiation of documentation, obtaining all necessary state and federal government approvals. In the cross-border lease transactions, his role also extended to drafting and negotiating documents governed by New York and English law.
John has also worked with arrangers, lenders, equity investors, end-users and credit enhancers on various other tax-based structured products, including R&D syndications, lease-tail transactions, foreign tax credit structures and the use of limited partnerships.
Corporate and leveraged finance
John’s experience extends to corporate debt and leveraged finance transactions, including the financing of specific asset acquisitions as well as funding general working capital requirements. In this area, he has acted for both lenders and borrowers and in secured, unsecured, syndicated and club loan arrangements.
Specific corporate lending transactions on which he has worked include:
- acting for ABN AMRO and the CBA in their A$550 million syndicated cashflow financing of FOXTEL’s digitalisation project
- acting for the bank syndicate which provided a A$1.5 billion facility to finance Hutchison Australia’s 3G rollout
- acting for various lenders (including the CBA, NAB, UBS and WestLB) in leveraged acquisition financings, including the Red Rooster business acquired by AFF, the Air International business acquired by JP Morgan Partners, the KFC business acquired by Pacific Equity Partners and the Veba Oil & Gas bid by Woodside Petroleum
- acting for ABN AMRO in its syndicated US$1 billion financing of the IPO of Enex, Glencore’s Australian and South African coal assets
- acting for a bank syndicate comprising SG, St George and HypoVereinsbank in the A$156 million secured refinancing of the Royal Bros hotel portfolio of Tourism Asset Hotels Limited
- acting for a bank syndicate comprising the ANZ, St George, Westpac, Abbey National, Mercantile Mutual, BNP and Credit Agricole Indosuez in the A$350 million secured financing of the hotel portfolio of Tourism Asset Holdings Limited and the subsequent refinancing by the ANZ, Abbey National and Credit Lyonnais
- acting for the CBA in its A$250 million financing of the Chatswood Chase Shopping Centre in NSW and its A$150 million financing of the ANA Hotel in Sydney
- acting for the CBA in its financing of a number of properties for various Trafalgar investment funds.
Professional background
John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Bachelor of Laws degree with first class honours and a Master of Taxation degree from the University of Sydney.In addition to being admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, John has also been admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in England & Wales and as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales.
