Marc is a senior banking, capital markets, structured finance, regulatory and derivatives lawyer whose experience spans across private practice with top-tier leading law firms in London and Dublin. He has also had both in-house legal roles and front-office roles within a major investment bank and a global asset manager.
Marc advises companies, financial institutions, investment funds and asset managers on debt financing, derivatives and structured finance. He also assists corporate clients on regulatory implementation and compliance projects in the area of financial services.
Additionally, Marc has cross-border experience advising arrangers, issuers, investors and corporate trustees in the structuring and execution of debt capital markets transactions. These range from simple corporate bond issuances to more complex structured financings, such as asset-backed securities (ABS), collateral debt obligations (CDO) and securitisation, and include both investment products and restructuring of non-performing loans (NPLs).
Marc was the head of the Italian desk at a leading law firm in Dublin and has an extensive network of contacts among businesses and law firms operating in Italy, including chambers of commerce.
Expertise
- Asset finance
- Corporate finance
- Corporate lending
- Corporate trust and agency
- Debt capital markets
- Debt restructurings
- Derivatives and structured finance
- Fund finance
- High yield
- Islamic finance
- Leveraged finance
- Real estate finance
- Securitisation
Experience
Capital Markets
- Legal counsel to a leading Canadian institutional asset manager (which manages public/parapublic pension and insurance programmes), on the Irish law aspects of the establishment and approval by Euronext Dublin of its US$25 billion medium term note programme and issuances thereunder.
- Lead counsel to FlexFunds, a provider of customised repackaging and securitisation products, and Irish-incorporated ‘section 110’ issuers on the set-up of, and issuances under, secured note programmes, including advising on related corporate actions and life-cycle events.
- Advised RBS Corporate & Institutional Banking, in-house, on the structuring, execution and documentation of structured products, derivatives and proprietary indices across all asset classes: Equities, Credit, FX, Fixed Income
- Issuer counsel to CIX Capital International DAC on its US$10 billion secured note programme.
- Trustee counsel to Apex Corporate Trustees (UK) Limited on the MBA Community Loans PLC €1 billion secured limited recourse note programme.
- Trustee counsel to City Partnership Trustee Limited on the set-up of, and issuances under, the S1 Series DAC and CCAP DAC secured limited recourse variable return amount note programmes.
- Advised a Direct Ship Finance, Dutch-based shipping finance company on the issuance of profit participating notes to invest a major joint venture to fund maritime shipping.
Banking & Finance
- Acted for Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c., providing advice and negotiating a loan linked ISDA in connection with the refinance of acquisition facilities to the Mater Private Group, Ireland’s largest private hospital group.
- Lead counsel to a multilateral development bank on its entry into: (i) a €450 million Irish law InvestEU guarantee with the European Union; (ii) a €100 million Irish law EFSD guarantee with the European Union; and (iii) a €35 million and €115 million Irish law EFSD+ guarantees with the European Union.
- Advised Black Sea Trade and Development Bank in relation to the EU’s financial services regulatory framework (including EMIR, SFTR and MAR) and the EU’s Russia/Ukraine sanctions regime.
- Delivered legal opinions to institutional lenders and venture capital funds on the application of the EU & UK Securitisation Regulation to their financing transactions, and advising on the roles and responsibilities of originators, sponsors and investors in these structures in the area of due diligence, risk retention and transparency.
- Advised a Luxembourg-based property finance investor on the restructuring and refinancing of an existing loan facility with a major European bank under the LMA framework, including the execution of its interest rate hedging under the ISDA framework.
Investment Funds
- Advised BlackRock, in-house, on the set-up and ongoing governance / maintenance of BlackRock’s UCITS and AIF funds (Luxembourg, Irish).
- Advised BlackRock, in-house, on whether its trading platforms operated were carrying out regulated activities in the UK or EU and applicable licensing requirements; requirements under UK Conduct of Business rules.
- Advised BlackRock, in-house on the implementation of the EU Benchmark regulation on its activities as benchmark administrator, user and contributor.
- Advised on the implementation of the EU Money Market Funds Regulation to BlackRock’s money market funds.
- Advised BlackRock, in-house, on the application of MIFIDII and GDPR to the development and distribution of its funds.
Recognition
Rated “Notable Practitioner” in the area of Capital Markets (Debt) and Capital Markets (Structured Finance and Securitisation)
Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) Fitch 7City learning
Recognised as a “Notable Practitioner” by IFLR 1000 Financial and Corporate, 2023.
Career
Prior to joining Keystone is 2023, Marc worked at:
- Mason Hayes & Curran LLP
- BlackRock Investment Management
- Natwest Markets (formerly RBS Investment Banking)
- Allen & Overy LLP