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A portait picture of Matilda Bennett

Matilda Bennett

Associate Solicitor

Matilda is an associate at Hannaford Turner. Matilda joined the firm in October 2023, having previously worked as an associate at Dentons in London from 2016 to 2023.

Prior to joining Hannaford Turner, Matilda’s primary practice area has been asset finance with particular expertise in cross-border aviation finance and leasing transactions. Matilda typically acts for lessees, lessors and banks. Her experience includes advising on and negotiating operating lease transactions for new and used aircraft, sale and purchase transactions for used aircraft (having acted on both the seller and buyer sides), finance lease transactions, orphan trust structures, pre-delivery payment financings, and novations. Her areas of experience encompass commercial aircraft used in the tourism and travel business, helicopters and corporate jets for both individuals and executive functions. She also has experience in ECA-backed project financing acting for export credit agencies, including financing for the government of a Central African country for the construction of a rural water supply, and in a LIBOR replacement exercise across a large airline’s fleet of LIBOR-linked loans, including ECA-financed deals.

Since joining Hannaford Turner, Matilda has worked on a broad range of financing transactions for commercial shipping clients, including the negotiation of ECA-backed facilities for newbuild cruise ships, negotiating time charters and advising on English law security packages. Matilda also works on matters across the Superyacht and Luxury Asset Group, including sale and purchase transactions relating to yachts, private jets and helicopters for individual buyers and sellers.

Matilda has previously completed a secondment to Standard Chartered Bank’s legal department in London, advising on legal issues relating to ECA-backed financing transactions in the project finance sphere, working on non-disclosure agreements and as part of the legal opinion review committee. Matilda has also completed a secondment to Airbus’ legal department, working as part of an international team based in Toulouse, France and assisting with new aircraft purchases, pre-delivery financing transactions relating to new aircraft under construction, and warranty arrangements relating to existing aircraft.

  • Acted for a major cruise line in the re-domiciliation of its group companies.
  • Advised a major cruise line in relation to the negotiation of ECA-supported newbuild delivery financings for cruise ships.
  • Acted for a tanker company in relation to the negotiation of a time charter for its newbuild vessels.
  • Advised a bank on the English law security aspects of a facility relating to a fishing vessel.
  • Acted for the seller in the sale of a Bombardier Challenger 605 private jet.
  • Advised on the security package relating to a BVI flagged motor yacht.
  • Acted on numerous commercial debt financings for a flag carrier airline for new aircraft deliveries, including a series of Gulfstream G650 business jets.
  • Acted on LIBOR replacement projects across a flag carrier airline’s entire fleet of LBOR-linked deals transitioning to Term SOFR, including finance leases, operating leases, JOLCOs and ECA-backed transactions.
  • Advised a large aircraft leasing company over a number of years on new aircraft deliveries and used aircraft financings in relation to drawdowns on its secured warehouse facility with a syndicate of international lenders. Additionally advised on multiple aircraft novations to expand the leasing company’s fleet, and assisting with the acquisition of another aircraft leasing company.
  • Acted for an international travel and tourism company on new aircraft operating lease transactions, finance lease transactions and multiple aircraft novations with various international counterparty lessors and financial institutions.
  • Acted for an export credit agency advising on financing granted to the Angolan government to support construction of a rural water supply project, with a commercial lending tranche from a commercial bank and a direct lending tranche from the export credit agency