We are expert lawyers in banking and financial law. Our lawyers have extensive experience in financing and debt refinancing operations.
In the course of their activities, companies can mainly choose between two sources of financing: equity (capital injection by shareholders) or debt. At Summons, we are experts in financing, whether through equity, debt, or a combination of both.
We also advise our clients on regulatory banking issues and banking claims, assisting in the defence of their interests before the banking entity, the Bank of Spain, and the courts of justice.
At Summons, we have financial lawyers with extensive experience in the following types of financing:
Our activity focuses on providing financial legal advice to both borrowing companies and lenders, whether they are banks, investment funds, or other financiers.
We accompany our clients throughout the entire financing process, from signing the term sheet to fulfilling the contractual obligations of the financing. We advise on the preparation and review of financing contracts, including long-term financing (loan agreement, credit agreement, participatory loan agreement, etc.) and short-term financing (guarantee line, factoring agreement with and without recourse, confirming agreement, etc.).
Additionally, we have extensive experience in syndicated financings.
At Summons, we have a team of expert lawyers in company refinancing and debt refinancing, with extensive experience advising both financed companies and financing entities.
The main issue is the refinancing of the company’s loan or credit and its structuring as a refinancing agreement under the Bankruptcy Law. However, it is also necessary to refinance any other financing instrument, such as short-term financing (e.g., a factoring agreement) or modify any other refinancing contract, as well as novate the guarantee contracts.
We have specialists in company refinancing; we prepare and negotiate both financial documents and guarantees and assist in the judicial approval process of the refinancing agreement, pre-bankruptcy, and bankruptcy issues, such as the sale of productive units or the purchase of companies in crisis.
We also assist our clients with ICO loans and guarantees granted by the Official Credit Institute to companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the most important parts of financing or debt refinancing is the package of guarantees. To ensure the fulfilment of the payment obligations assumed by the financed company, the lender requires the signing of guarantee documents.
Among others, we have extensive experience in the preparation and review of guarantee contracts such as ordinary mortgages, floating mortgages, pledge of shares, pledge of company shares, pledge of bank accounts, pledge of contracts, first-demand bank guarantee, etc.
Additionally, our team specialises in the preparation and review of guarantee contracts within the framework of syndicated debt financing and refinancing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Once the company and the lenderhas negotiated the economic terms by signing a term sheet, the refinancing will typically be headed by a framework agreement (if required by the entity involved in the operation), a financing contract (loan, credit, confirming, factoring, etc.), and a package of guarantees, along with other ancillary documents.
Guarantees are legal instruments whose purpose is to ensure the payment or fulfilment of an obligation. The lendermay require, among others, a mortgage on a property, a pledge on certain assets (e.g., pledge of shares, pledge of company shares, pledge on bank balances, pledge on receivables from clients, etc.), a guarantee, etc.
The first-demand bank guarantee is not explicitly regulated in Spanish legislation. However, it is a consolidated doctrine of the Supreme Court that the first-demand bank guarantee is considered a personal guarantee not ancillary to the principal obligation, atypical, based on the principle of autonomy of will, and whose purpose is not to guarantee the fulfilment of the principal obligation but rather to ensure the indemnity of the beneficiary when the event specified in the guarantee occurs and concerning the debtor's non-compliance.
In other words, in the event of the debtor's default, the creditor holding the first-demand bank guarantee can demand payment from the issuing bank, which will be obliged to pay on the first demand. The content of the guarantee document is crucial to determine the obligation to pay on the first demand.
