Chris Patten
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
Related services and key industries
Related services
Key industry sectors
Biography
Chris Patten is a banking and finance lawyer based in Brisbane and Melbourne.
His core areas of practice are corporate finance, acquisition finance, non-recourse lending (projects, infrastructure and property) and specialised finance (receivables, trade, supply chain and asset based lending).
Chris works for both borrowers and lenders on their most complex and time-critical transactions and is known for his accessibility, communication and negotiation skills and hands-on approach to executing transactions.
Professional experience
Collapse allBachelor of Law (Hons) / Commerce, University of Melbourne
- AirTrunk - on $850m syndicated facilities to finance its Australian and Asian expansion - the largest data centre financing in Australia to date.
- A subsidiary of a Japanese trading house - on establishing the financing structure for a new motor vehicle leasing business in Australia.
- Several property developers - on various acquisitions, greenfield developments and restructuring transactions.
- Lenders to Swissport - on the €325 million TLB financing for the acquisition of Aerocare, the number one ground handling operator in Australia.
- Advising the syndicate of banks that provided A$4.29 billion in funding for the Melbourne Metro Tunnels and Stations PPP – voted Infra Deal of the Year at the 2017 Project Finance International Awards.
- Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board - on all aspects of the financing for their $9.05 billion takeover of Asciano Limited, including the $3.95 billion funding package – voted Deal of the Year and MA& Deal of the Year 2017 at the Australasian Law Awards and Most Innovative Deal at the 2017 FinanceAsia Awards.
- Global Infrastructure Partners - on their fund financing arrangements.
- McMillan Shakespeare Limited - on all aspects of its global financing arrangements.
- IFM Investors - on their hedging arrangements with over 20 counterparties, prime brokerage arrangements with multiple international investment banks and on their global response to variation margin regulations in Australia, the United States and a number of other jurisdictions.
- Alumina Limited - on multiple refinancings of its US$250 million syndicated facilities.
- ANZ, NAB and Rabobank - on receivables purchase, borrowing base and other trade finance facilities for a variety of corporate borrowers.
- Advising the US private placement noteholders to Brisbane Airport.
- Advising various sponsors or syndicates of banks for many of Australia's tollroads (including the Eastern Distributor, Cross City Tunnel, WestLinkM7, Lane Cove Tunnel, Logan Enhancement Project and AirportLink M7) and several operational PPPs (including the Biosciences Research Centre, Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Royal Women's Hospital), including the acquisition phases in a number of instances.
- Advising various syndicates of banks providing acquisition funding packages in relation to the Port of Melbourne privatisation, the NSW LPI privatisation, BG Group's sale of the QCLNG pipeline and EnergyAustralia's sale of the Iona Gas Storage Facility.
- Infrastructure Capital Group - on their US$205 million US private placement for Hallett Hill 2 Wind Farm.
Some experience above was undertaken at a previous law firm.
News
Australian team advises Loan Market Group on acquisition of NAB's broker aggregation businesses
November 13, 2020
Norton Rose Fulbright advises AirTrunk on new hyperscale data centre in Singapore
April 11, 2019
Norton Rose Fulbright advises AirTrunk on landmark AU$850 million data centre financing
August 09, 2018
Knowledge
Digital infrastructure insights
Publication | January 20, 2021
Trends and opportunities for digital infrastructure operators and investors in the APAC region
Publication | January 06, 2021
AFR National Infrastructure Summit
Publication | July 2019