About Paula

Paula is a banking and finance lawyer with extensive international experience, both in-house and private practice, acting for a sophisticated client portfolio, including a large number of financial institutions and corporate groups on a wide range of finance matters. As well as advising on complex corporate finance, real estate finance, acquisition finance and project finance, she also has significant experience on a wide range of corporate transactions and governance issues.

With a market-leading reputation for leading commercial and legal teams to deliver commercial solutions for clients under tight deadlines, Paula has a strong track record of building trusted relationships with key stakeholders and clients. She consistently delivers outstanding results, bringing deep commerciality and legal expertise to each matter.

Paula is also the founder and Chair of Women in Loan Markets Australia (Melbourne), a sub-committee of the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association which aims to promote women in the finance industry and has repeatedly been recognised in the industry for her work having won a number of awards. These include the Women in Finance, Banking and Finance Lawyer of the Year award for four consecutive years since 2020.

With a deep long standing commitment to supporting those in need in the community, Paula has worked with First Nations peoples, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Australian Red Cross, the Buttery and Healthy Bones Australia.

Experience

• Lenders

  Acting for a broad range of lenders on a range of matters including:

  • Acting for the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, a Finnish multilateral company and a Norwegian multilateral company who subscribed for shares in, and provided debt to, a Finnish company which was established to provide oilfield clean-up services. This involved drafting and negotiating the Financing, Equity and Security documents.

  • Acting for the Eurasian Development Bank with respect to the development of various pro forma SME Loan Agreements, A/B Loan Agreements and security documentation to assist with development projects in Asia.

  • Acting for Bank of America Merrill Lynch with respect to financings over $18 billion including:
    • numerous syndicated financings including for the Westfield Group, Crown Casino, Telstra Corporation Limited and Consolidated Press Holdings Limited; and
    • numerous bilateral financings, including for Macquarie Bank Limited, Lendlease and QBE Insurance.

  • Advising Westpac Institutional Bank with respect to the AUD$690 million project financing of the public and private hospital and car park at Frenchs Forest.

  • Advising Westpac on the refinancing of the ADU$550 million syndicated working capital facility, AUD$800 million syndicated bank guarantee facility and AUD$6 billion syndicated term facility for Origin Energy Limited.

  • Advising Westpac on the successful ADU$1,050,000,000 bid for the refinancing of the Northern Beaches hospital, New South Wales.

  • Acting for Bank of China Limited, Macau Branch in relation to the secured US$850,000,000 facility to Grand Pharma for the acquisition of the Sirtex Medical Limited and its subsidiaries across New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, Germany, Singapore, England, Australia. This involved a complex intellectual property security structure and financial assistance process and included a number several subsequent amendments / extensions to the facility.

  • Acting for AMP Capital in relation to the refinancing of the circa $210,000,000 Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison Redevelopment Project, which included liaising with the Minister representing the State of Western Australia for consent to the refinancing.

  • Acting for Goldman Sachs in relation to the sale of various property assets to its joint venture partner (including exiting its financing arrangements).

  • Acting for HSBC in relation to a number of bilateral facilities including $175,0000 to Landmark Operations Limited and other facilities Simba Group, Somhill Group and Ausfine Group.

  • Acting for ANZ in relation to the implementation of the new Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO) and Product Intervention Powers (PIP) legislation was passed on 3 April 2019 in relation to products across both the institutional and retail arms of the bank.

  • Acting for ANZ in relation to a number of corporate financings, including to the Belvino Group and Picture Wealth Holdings Group.

  • Acting for a number of banks including Credit Suisse, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Limited, Barclays Bank and in relation to highly structured aircraft leasing structures to commercial airlines including Lufthansa and Japan Airlines.

  • A number of secondments / roles including to ANZ Banking Group Limited, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank.
• Borrower

  Acting for a range of borrowers in relation to a range of financings:

  • Acting for a borrower group in relation to a $227,000,000 Landmark Quarter Senior Construction Facility and a $40,000,000 Landmark Residual Stock Facility.

  • Acting for a private borrower group involved in the seafood industry in relation to a A$85 million borrowing base facility with Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., Australia Branch.

  • Acting for WholeCap Funds Management in relation to a number of highly structured property financings including in Bondi Junction, Sydney and ongoing advisory work.

  • Acting for developer Grocon Group in relation to various property developments including mixed residential and commercial developments across Australia, including Fairfield, Greenwich and Manly, Twenty95, general financing and corporate advice including internal structuring.

  • Acting for developer Caydon Group in relation to a number of mixed residential and commercial developments including, among others, Cremorne, Coppins Corner, The Malt District, Alphington, Home, Moonee Ponds, Focus on Mason, Flemington, Only, Ivanhoe and a headstock Loan Note Subscription Agreement with OCP, Asia and other financings.

  • Acting for a number of corporates and private equity firms in relation to finance due diligence for the acquisition of various corporate groups across Australia and New Zealand.