ITFA – Introducing the Speakers in Barcelona – Simon Cook

It is with great pleasure that we announce yet another speaker for the annual Conference being held between Wednesday 10th September to Friday 12th September, 2014 at Hotel Rey Juan Carlos in Barcelona.

Simon Cook, a partner in the Trade & Export Finance Group in Sullivan & Worcester’s London office, will be addressing the Legal and Regulatory issues in the Trade and Forfaiting market in Africa. His session will look at the broad picture – where the market is at present and what’s being done, and will cover practical issues, like obstacles to getting deals done and some possible solutions. He will also cover structural points to note with trade finance and forfaiting transactions, as well as country specific concerns.

Simon has experience in a wide variety of banking and finance transactions, including in particular in relation to trade finance, structured trade finance, project finance, invoice discounting facilities and borrowing-base facilities in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the CIS. His work in the structured trade area covers a range of pre-export and prepayment financings acting for both lenders and borrowers notably in oil, telecoms, soft commodities and metals sectors with particular experience in Africa and the Middle East, whilst on the trade finance side he has advised international banks on various financial instruments and related issues. Simon was also involved in the preparation of the ITFA’s Secondary Market Guidelines and Primary Market Guide as well as the Uniform Rules on Forfaiting.

Simon has worked and travelled extensively in Africa and the Middle East and spent over three and a half years living and working in Dubai. He has participated in countless conferences and seminars on an array of topics around the world.

The Trade & Export Finance Group at Sullivan & Worcester is an internationally renowned team with comprehensive experience of all aspects of trade, commodities and ECA finance. The London team, headed by Geoffrey Wynne, includes partners Simon Cook and Mark Norris and is primarily focused on trade, export and commodity finance in emerging markets whilst Sullivan & Worcester also has an established trade finance practice in New York headed by Mike Sullivan and Jay Jenkins. Sullivan & Worcester has recently been voted Best Law Firm in Trade Finance by Trade & Forfaiting Review, building on the long history of awards achieved during the majority of the London team’s time at Dentons prior to moving to establish Sullivan & Worcester’s London office in late 2013. The team is also highly rated by Chambers Law Directory and Legal 500, as were Geoffrey, Simon and Mark on an individual basis, and has advised on a number of award-winning and market-leading transactions.