Our Derivatives & Structured Products team advises clients on the legal structuring of a broad range of derivatives and structured products. We also advise on regulatory aspects relating to such transactions, monitoring regulatory changes on an on-going basis.

Gide has a significant track record in acting on complex stand-alone transactions, in particular strategic equity derivatives and structured credit derivatives (credit linked notes, CDO, CPPI, CPDO, CFXO), as well as structured repos, whether used in connection with risk management or risk transfer transactions, or to finance or build positions in financial assets.  Our team also generally advises on the hedging aspects of structured finance transactions (securitisations, covered bonds, corporate and asset financing, project finance), working closely with the other teams within the Banking and Finance practice.

In addition to advising on transactions on mature markets, the Derivatives & Structured Products team has extensive experience in emerging markets, particularly in Central & Eastern Europe, as well as in Asia and Northern Africa.  It is often at the forefront of structuring transactions novel to such jurisdictions.

Many members of the Derivatives & Structured Products team have come from an investment banking background or have spent time on secondment with international investment banks, allowing the team to approach transactions with a deeper appreciation of clients’ commercial considerations.

Gide advises banks and other financial institutions, corporates, investment funds and hedge funds, as well as local authorities and public institutions on a broad range of transactions involving derivatives and structured products and on their related regulatory aspects.  Gide is also active in the settlement of litigation or pre-litigations aspects of such type of transactions on behalf of clients. Experience includes:

• Counsel to French and international investment banks, investment funds and corporates on the structuring and implementation of equity derivatives financing transactions, monetisation of financial flows or shareholdings and warehousing transactions.
   
• Counsel on structured repo transactions refinancing certain asset-backed securities (ABS) to provide liquidity and monetise shareholdings.
   
• Counsel to a large number of French covered bond issuers on their hedging strategy in relation to their respective rated covered bond programmes, including implementation of rating agency criteria (both under ISDA and FBF Master Agreements) and dialogue with rating agencies.
   
• Counsel to asset managers on various structured credit notes with a leverage exposure to the performance of actively managed reference portfolios (CPPI, CPDO, CFXO, CSO).
   
• Counsel to investment banks, corporates, local authorities and national and international industry bodies on domestic netting and collateralisation regulations for derivatives and repurchase agreements in France and the United Kingdom, and in emerging markets such as China, Hungary, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Tunisia, and Vietnam.​​

Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP has ‘a dedicated team based on a solid and stable senior team of partners and counsel who are really aware of clients’ operational constraints‘. The firm specialises in structuring, documentation, collateralisation and regulatory issues relating to derivatives and structured products across equity, credit, fixed income, fund, commodity, energy, inflation, weather, property and other asset classes, as well as handling repos and securities lending transactions. Best known for acting for French banks, the London finance group is increasingly acting for corporates across Europe on derivatives matters. Lead partner Karine Imbrosciano is ‘a dedicated lawyer always available and very easy to talk with‘.

Legal 500 EMEA 2023 - England - Finance : Derivatives & Structured Products

The experienced team at Gide Loyrette Nouel A.A.R.P.I. remains a leader in the practice space, advising major domestic and international financial institutions (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Barclays) and asset managers, services airlines (Air France) and corporates such as Veolia across such sectors as car rentals, waste management and data and analytics, on a wide range of securitisation transactions and asset-backed finance transactions. The team is headed by Arnaud Duhamel, who focuses on strategic equity derivatives transactions and equity financings, and structured derivative products specialist Laurent Vincent. Counsel Clément Vandevooghel brings expertise to loan portfolio sales (including non-performing loans), asset-backed lending and debt capital markets. Samir Bensaker was promoted to partner in July 2022. Co-practice head Xavier Chassin de Kergommeaux departed in February 2023.

Legal 500 EMEA 2023 - Derivatives & Structured Finance

The structured finance practice at Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP is 'very responsive and provides great insight into market'. The firm handles structuring, documentation, collateralisation and regulatory issues relating to derivatives and structured products in a vast range of asset classes, among them equity, credit, fixed income, fund, commodity, energy, inflation and weather, as well as repos and securities lending transactions. Head of derivatives & structured products Karine Imbrosciano and London head of banking & finance Dimitrios Logizidis are the lead partners. Imbrosciano and her team are 'both technically astute and kind people to spend time and work with', remarks a client. She recently advised a consortium of ten banks, among them mBank and BNP Paribas Bank Polska, on the negotiation of the hedging documentation to be entered into with chemical company Ciech S.A.

Legal 500 London 2022 - Derivatives & Structured Products

The structured finance practice at Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP is 'very responsive and provides great insight into market'. The firm handles structuring, documentation, collateralisation and regulatory issues relating to derivatives and structured products in a vast range of asset classes, among them equity, credit, fixed income, fund, commodity, energy, inflation and weather, as well as repos and securities lending transactions. Head of derivatives & structured products Karine Imbrosciano and London head of banking & finance Dimitrios Logizidis are the lead partners. Imbrosciano and her team are 'both technically astute and kind people to spend time and work with', remarks a client. She recently advised a consortium of ten banks, among them mBank and BNP Paribas Bank Polska, on the negotiation of the hedging documentation to be entered into with chemical company Ciech S.A.The structured finance practice at Gide Loyrette Nouel LLP is 'very responsive and provides great insight into market'. The firm handles structuring, documentation, collateralisation and regulatory issues relating to derivatives and structured products in a vast range of asset classes, among them equity, credit, fixed income, fund, commodity, energy, inflation and weather, as well as repos and securities lending transactions. Head of derivatives & structured products Karine Imbrosciano and London head of banking & finance Dimitrios Logizidis are the lead partners. Imbrosciano and her team are 'both technically astute and kind people to spend time and work with', remarks a client. She recently advised a consortium of ten banks, among them mBank and BNP Paribas Bank Polska, on the negotiation of the hedging documentation to be entered into with chemical company Ciech S.A.

Legal 500 EMEA 2022 - England