Shepherd and Wedderburn has completed the Shariah-compliant refinancing of high value office accommodation in Aberdeen.

The firm acted as legal advisor to Youngberry Properties, the owner of Bridge View and Consort House, on the refinancing of those premises.

The properties, which total 159,170 sq ft of floor space, are fully let to the oil and gas service provider Petrofac as its North Sea office headquarters and NHS Scotland.

Gatehouse Bank, a wholesale Shariah-compliant investment bank based in London, advised Youngberry on the investment and financing aspects of the deal.

The funding was completed by way of a commodity murabaha facility from an established international bank. A murabaha transaction is a form of Islamic financing based on the purchase of underlying assets and their sale at a profit mark-up that enables a financier to provide funding without an interest-bearing loan.

Shepherd and Wedderburn provided Youngberry with banking, real estate, construction and tax advice.

Peter Alderdice, a senior associate in Shepherd and Wedderburn’s banking & finance team, said: “This is a very significant deal for Youngberry Properties and we are pleased to have used our expertise in Islamic finance to help secure the refinancing of two of the largest commercial properties in the city. Having completed a number of Islamic finance deals of this kind, we know how to overcome the challenges involved in order to ensure smooth, successful transactions.”

Paul Hally has been re-elected by his partners to serve a second consecutive term as Chairman of Shepherd and Wedderburn.

Paul, who was first elected to the position in 2014, chairs the Shepherd and Wedderburn board and will continue to work closely with his fellow partners and Chief Executive Stephen Gibb to chart the firm’s strategic direction over the next three years.

Paul has, during his first term, made a significant contribution to developing and implementing the firm’s business strategy, and representing the interests of colleagues and clients. He is also responsible for ensuring that clients receive legal services of the highest quality, upholding professional standards, encouraging diversity and safeguarding client information and data held by Shepherd and Wedderburn. This commitment has seen the firm recognised as one of the UK’s top 20 legal advisers in Legal Week’s Best Legal Adviser Report 2016-17.

In addition to his role as Chairman, Paul, who joined Shepherd and Wedderburn in 1984 and served as the firm’s Chief Executive from 1999-2004, continues to build on his reputation as one of Scotland’s foremost corporate lawyers.
He has over 30 years’ commercial experience as a partner, advising clients strategically and legally in the funds, financial services, banking and energy sectors. These include Cairn Energy, most notably advising on the company’s UK stock market listing and the listing of its Indian business, and Lloyds Banking Group.

Paul also acts as a reporter to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on significant corporate transactions, including the demutualisation of Standard Life and the merger of Lloyds Banking Group and Bank of Scotland. In addition, he is the convenor of the business policy panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Paul said: “Stewardship of Shepherd and Wedderburn is a great privilege and honour. Ensuring that our clients and staff realise their plans and achieve their ambitions is fundamental to what we do. Our success has been achieved through the quality of the legal services provided by our people and the relationships of trust that we have built with our clients over many years. During the course of my next term I will strive to build on what we have already achieved, with unremitting client focus and a commitment to further enhance the market-leading legal services that we provide to individuals and businesses active in virtually every sector of the economy.”

Commenting on Paul’s re-election, Stephen Gibb said: “Paul has made an immense contribution to the firm’s progress and to helping clients achieve their objectives by ensuring that we continue to provide relevant legal services of the very highest quality. He is someone that clients trust implicitly and that has set the bar for the level of service the firm delivers.

“During his 33 years at the firm, Paul has led by example and has been a mentor to many young lawyers who have gone on to become partners at Shepherd and Wedderburn or to lead very successful careers in-house with many of our clients. We are a people business and that commitment to identifying and nurturing talent and encouraging diversity is at the heart of our success as a firm.”

Shepherd and Wedderburn is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The firm supports initiatives such as Investors in People and Project Scotland. Shepherd and Wedderburn is a founding member of PRIME, a pioneering initiative by the UK’s leading law firms to foster diversity in the legal profession by offering work experience and ongoing support to young people from less advantaged backgrounds.

Shepherd and Wedderburn has advised on a £34.7 million funding deal that will lead to the construction of nearly 600 new homes.

Shepherd and Wedderburn supported FairBriar International in securing financial backing from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). This deal will support the development of FairBriar’s 24.5-acre Middlewood Locks mixed-use scheme in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The facility comprises £25.5 million of residential development finance to enable the fast-track delivery of phase two of Middlewood Locks. This phase will provide 546 new apartments across four buildings.

The remaining £9.2 million will help fund infrastructure and enabling works across the development, a residential and commercial neighbourhood located at the western gateway to Manchester’s central business district.

The Shepherd and Wedderburn team that advised on deal was led by Sally Morris-Smith, a partner in the London property and infrastructure team, working alongside Patrick Bell, Lucy Hall and Katy Fitzpatrick of the firm’s banking and finance team, and Andrew Blain, Head of Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Corporate Division.

Sally said: “This is one of the region’s regeneration projects, which promises to transform the local area and create much-need housing and valuable local amenities close to Manchester city centre. We are delighted that we were able to support FairBriar, a long-standing and valued client, in securing the substantial funding needed to progress the ambitious project that will make such a positive contribution to the local community.”

FairBriar International is a joint venture led by Leeds-based Scarborough International Properties.

Simon Marshall, Joint Chief Executive of Scarborough International Properties, said: “Major sites, such as Middlewood Locks, are key to meeting housing demand in areas of strong economic and demographic growth such as Greater Manchester.

“We look forward to working in partnership with the HCA through to the completion of this very important development.”

Nick Walkley, Chief Executive of HCA, added: “This loan is a great example of how we can help developers create new communities, which will provide more of the homes that people need, and do so quickly – completing almost 600 homes by this time next year.”

Currently under construction, the first phase of Middlewood Locks will provide 571 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with the first wave ready to occupy in spring next year.

When completed, the scheme will provide 2,215 new homes, 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, a hotel and a new urban development.

Commercial disputes specialist Philip Sewell has joined Shepherd and Wedderburn as a partner, bringing 25 years’ experience to the firm’s Commercial Disputes and Regulation Division.

Philip advises on contentious commercial matters, including insurance, professional negligence, shareholder disputes, landlord and tenant commercial fraud, health and safety, food safety and personal injury. He will be based in the firm’s London office and will work closely with Shepherd and Wedderburn’s dispute resolution specialists across its offices in the City of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Philip, who joins from Maclay Murray & Spens, previously headed McClure Naismith’s dispute resolution practice in London and has experience of advising clients on resolving commercial disputes across a range of fora, including traditional litigation, mediation/alternative dispute resolution and adjudication matters across the UK. His appointment further enhances Shepherd and Wedderburn’s capability to supply relevant, high quality contentious litigation support to its clients.

Stephen Gibb, Chief Executive of Shepherd and Wedderburn, said: “We are delighted to welcome Philip to the firm. He is a highly-regarded commercial litigator with many years’ experience of advising clients operating in a range of sectors across a wide variety of disputes. Philip’s expertise will be an asset for many of our commercial clients, including those taking advantage of our funded litigation offering, which mitigates the financial risk of engaging in litigation.”

Shepherd and Wedderburn has made two senior appointments to its Business Development and Marketing team.

Scott Thomson joins the firm as Director of Business Development and Marketing, while Camillo Fracassini has taken up the newly-created post of Head of Marketing and Communications.

Scott was the Europe Business Development Director for Dentons, having previously worked for Baker McKenzie and Eversheds. Camillo, who joins from Brodies, was formerly Deputy Scotland Editor of the Sunday Times and a corporate account director at the BIG Partnership.

Stephen Gibb, Chief Executive of Shepherd and Wedderburn, said: “The recruitment of business development and communications specialists of this calibre underscores our commitment to further enhancing our service to clients.

“Scott, through his considerable experience of working with law firms in the City of London and across Europe, has particular expertise in managing long-term relationships with clients and ensuring that they receive relevant legal services of the very highest quality.

“Camillo, meanwhile, through his experience as a communications specialist and journalist will be ensuring that we communicate effectively with our clients and share valuable legal updates and information that will assist them in achieving their business objectives.”

Defending champions, Shepherd and Wedderburn, made a valiant effort to retain their title at the Marie Curie Glasgow Brain Game. While the team may have come in 3rd, the event helped the organisation raise over £150,000.

The firm’s team of John Gallacher, Judith Stephenson, Andrew Winton and Chris Garden, together with guests from EY, BDO, T Lawrie and Partners Ltd, Mahon Land Limited, took on the competition at the Hilton Hotel on 12 October. The annual quiz was hosted this year by Hazel Irvine and Rob McLean.

Having won in 2016, the team was tasked with defending their hard won title, but fell just short this year. However, a 3rd place finish out of the 44 participants meant it was another good showing.

And while the Shepherd and Wedderburn team may not have taken home the top prize this year, partner Al Frood will be on your radio waves very soon. He was successful in a joint auction bid that will see him appear as a special guest of Radio Clyde’s Superscoreboard! Al will team up with Hugh Keevins and Derek Johnstone to discuss the current talking points in Scottish football, so stay tuned.

Well done to all the teams who came together for this great cause!

Reflecting the firm’s steady growth and commitment to nurturing talent, leading UK Law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has promoted 11 solicitors to the position of Associate across its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and London.

The total number of associates and solicitors now stands at 148, with the firm wide headcount at approximately 500. With a premier client portfolio and a reputation for the highest quality service, the firm is renowned for its ability to innovate and handle unique, unprecedented projects.

Stephen Gibb, Chief Executive, Shepherd and Wedderburn said: “This is a really strong group of new associates, and reflects the strength in depth and quality of our people across the business. Our strategy has always been to provide first-class expertise combined with personal service and I know that our new associates will play a key role in delivering this. This group in particular has demonstrated a strong professional ethos and an unwavering commitment to our clients and colleagues. Their promotions are well deserved.”

The new associates are Gina Johnston, Chris Garden and Charles Boyne who specialise in Commercial Disputes & Regulation; Alison Blair in Banking & Finance; Flora Asplin in the Private Client team; and Chris Devlin, Ian Mack, Stephen Maughan, Stephanie Mill, Emma Paton and Julian Poullain in Property & Infrastructure.