Sophie Coggan

Senior Associate Pouarataki Pāhake

Sophie is a specialist banking and finance lawyer with strong experience acting for both financier and borrower clients. She has advised on a wide range of national and cross-border banking and finance matters, including acquisition and leveraged finance, project finance, real estate finance, general corporate lending, debt restructuring, derivatives, aircraft and asset finance, securitisations, structured finance and regulatory and advisory work.

Sophie’s clients vary from banks, alternative lenders, private equity investors and large domestic and multi-national corporates. She also has worked with in-house lender clients over several secondments. Sophie takes a pragmatic and commercial approach to all projects and consistently delivers legal advice and solutions that are tailored to a client’s needs.

Career highlights

Advising a range of New Zealand financial institutions on their regulatory compliance and change projects as those relate to financial law including supporting a major New Zealand bank in connection with a significant redocumentation project relating to their business bank lending documents.

Acted for JUCY Group on in connection with a refinancing of its group syndicated loan facilities across Australia and New Zealand.

Acting for a significant charitable institution on the arrangement of its new secured, club financing. This was an important strategic financing for the client which consolidated its banking arrangements with four lenders under a unified club structure.

Acted for amicaa on NZ$140 million of secured senior debt financing of the management buyout of NPD.

Advising Z Energy on the sale of Flick Energy’s hedge book to Meridian.

Acted for the Maia Financial in connection with the sale and transfer of its securitised commercial leasing portfolio to CHG-Meridian.

Acted for Irish aviation leasing company Avolon on the sale and leaseback of our Airbus A320-232 aircraft with Air New Zealand.

Wide UK experience acting for global banks, private equity houses and institutional lenders and borrowers on multi-jurisdictional syndicated lending facilities, acquisition financings, project financings, property financings and derivative matters across a variety of sectors.

Achievements and recognition
  • Tier 1 team, Banking and FInance, The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific
  • Recognised team, Restructuring and Insolvency, The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific