30/09/2021

Greenstone Group Limited’s (Greenstone) A$700 million synthetic securitisation of insurance commission receivables, advised by Gilbert + Tobin, has won ‘Life Transaction of the Year’ at   the 2021 Trading Risk Awards – a global event for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry.

Greenstone is a major distributor of a diverse range of insurance products in Australia, with a number of brands and partnerships with well-regarded Australian insurance providers.

The award is recognition for Greenstone as having completed the largest synthetic securitisation of insurance commission receivables globally and the first of its nature arranged by Hannover Re via Kubera Insurance, a Bermudan segregated account company.  Its flexible structure providing the Greenstone Group with future opportunities to access additional funding under the structure.

The G+T team, led by Banking + Projects lead partner Gail Christopher and special counsel Louise McCoach, drafted the Australian-law governed transaction documents and negotiated the Bermudan-law and German-law documents. The transaction documents were entirely bespoke given the novel nature of the financing and the multitude of parties involved and creative drafting solutions were used to satisfy the requirements of all parties.

Supporting Gail and Louise was lawyer Kerry Carew. Tax partner Julian Cheng and lawyer Matthew Charman advised Greenstone on the tax treatment of payments under the swap.

Commenting on the win, Graeme Booth, Chief Financial Officer at Greenstone said, “This is a tremendous feather in the cap for Greenstone as an issuer.”

Gail Christopher said, “We were pleased to advise Greenstone on this highly bespoke and complex securitisation and congratulate Greenstone on this amazing recognition.”

Gilbert + Tobin’s Banking + Projects team is recognised in the leading legal directories, including most recently being ranked at Band 1 for Banking and Finance – Acquisition Finance by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2021. In the IFLR1000 Specialists Guide 2019, G+T are recognised for work in Unitranche financings, the only Australian firm to be recognised. G+T has significant experience advising leading Australian and international financial institutions, investment banks, corporations and private equity funds. We act for lenders, borrowers, sponsors and consortia on a range of issues from high-value corporate transactions to complex restructuring projects.

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