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Leona McManus
Partner
Leona McManus is a derivatives and structured finance partner in the Financial Services Practice. Leona’s practice focuses on the full range of English law derivative transactions across all asset classes and complex and bespoke structured finance products.
Leona has notable expertise in equity financing transactions, involving margin loans and equity collar financings, and in structuring and negotiating complex financing arrangements. In addition, she has notable expertise and extensive experience in the derivatives and structured finance aspects of project finance, infrastructure, leveraged finance and acquisition financings.
Leona acts for a mix of corporates, asset managers and financial institutions.
Leona recently joined the firm from a major New York-based international firm.
- Advising a syndicate of banks on a margin loan financing referencing UK listed shares.
- Advising on an English law bond/guarantee facility for credit support as part of a wider public to private acquisition financing.
- Advising a large European direct lender and credit asset manager on a strategically important and complex cross-group financing arrangement to be used for the basis of a major note issuance programme across Europe, including the structuring and negotiation of true sale arrangements.
- Advising a multinational telecommunications company with respect to its hedging arrangements in connection with the financing for a joint venture between a cable network and mobile phone network.
- Advising on a third-party securitisation financing for a sovereign wealth fund’s evergreen origination platform with a leading financial services firm.
- Advising a London-based financial institution in relation to the structuring and negotiation of a structured finance transaction for the purpose of providing the counterparty access to liquid assets to be able to comply with liquidity requirements.
- Structuring and negotiating an ISDA arrangement to satisfy a company’s obligation to cover the cost of CO2 certificates required by its energy suppliers.
- Advising various lender groups on numerous margin loan financings referencing shares listed in a variety of jurisdictions, including Canada, the US, Germany and India.
- Advising corporates and investment banks in relation to equity collar financings.
- Advising a major financial institution on the implantation of margining requirements for its non-centrally cleared derivatives.
- Advising various groups of lenders and hedge banks, as well as the sponsor groups, in connection with the interest rate and foreign exchange hedging transactions for a number of project finance transactions in Asia, the Middle East and South America, as well as infrastructure finance transactions in Europe.
Education
- Nottingham Law School, L.P.C., 2005
- Queen's University, Belfast, LL.B., Law and Accounting, 2004
Admissions
- England and Wales, 2007
- Ranked as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 2023 in Derivatives and Structured Products, and as Up and Coming by Chambers UK 2023 in Capital Markets: Derivatives. Leona is praised for being “an excellent leader” who “delivers comprehensive advice”. It is said “Leona is very responsive and is always able to turn her hand to a wide range of financing products.”
- Leona has received a Structured Finance & Securitisation Rising Star Award EMEA 2022.