Cecil Quillen

Cecil is a London-based US partner who is a leading US capital markets practitioner in the London market. He became a partner in the New York office in 1996 and transferred to the London office in 2000. He works on a broad spectrum of securities and finance matters and has extensive experience in offerings of debt, equity, regulatory-capital and structured securities in established and emerging markets, as well as in liability management transactions and restructurings. He works extensively on strategic, transactional , compliance and disclosure matters with SEC reporting companies.

Work highlights

Cecil’s most significant recent transactional experience includes:

• representing the lead managers on Air Baltic’s €340 million 14.5% Secured Bonds due 2029 (Rule 144A stress refinancing of pre-existing indebtedness of key regional airline)
• representing Energy Development Oman on its debut US$1 billion Rule 144A sukuk (5.875% Trust Certificates due 2033) (Middle East Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Deal of the Year)
• advising the lead managers on Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s US$5 billion three-tranche jumbo bond issuance
• advising Rio Tinto plc on its US$1.75 billion SEC-registered notes offering, and generally on all US-related disclosure and reporting issues and US capital-raising platforms
• advising the underwriters on Barclays PLC’s US$1.75 billion AT1 (9.625% Fixed Rate Resetting Perpetual Subordinated Contingent Capital Securities) and all SEC-registered Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC offerings of regulatory-capital and debt securities
• advising the underwriters on HSBC Holdings plc’s US$2 billion 7.39% Fixed Rate/Floating Rate Subordinated Unsecured Notes due 2034 and all SEC-registered HSBC Holdings plc offerings of regulatory capital and debt securities
• advising the lead managers on Serbia’s offering of US$1.5 billion 6% Notes due 2034 and previous US-facing bond offerings by Serbia
• representing the lead managers on London Stock Exchange Group plc’s US$1.25 billion dual-tranche bonds and previous US-facing offerings of debt securities by London Stock Exchange Group plc
• advising Allied Irish Bank plc on its US$1 billion Fixed to Floating Senior Notes due 2035 and all US-facing offerings of regulatory capital and debt securities
• advising Unilever PLC on its SEC-registered offering of US$1.5 billion dual-tranche Senior Notes, as well as on US-securities-law aspects of its unification transaction and on all its SEC-registered offerings of debt securities
• advising OPEC Fund for International Development on its debut and subsequent US-facing offerings of debt securities, including its US$500 million 4.625% Notes due 2027
• advising Tate & Lyle PLC on US law aspects of its sale of its Primary Products and related businesses in North America and Latin America
• advising Omantel on its debut US$500 million Rule 144A sukuk (Sukuk Trust Certificates due 2031 (part-refinancing of Omantel’s secured notes which financed its acquisition of its stake in Zain Telecom)
• representing the lead managers on Nationwide Building Society’s US$1.5 billion 5.264% Regulated Covered Bonds due 2026 and its US$1.25 billion 6.557% Fixed-to-Floating Rate Senior Non-Preferred Notes due 2027, and on all Nationwide Building Society’s US-facing offerings of regulatory capital securities, covered bonds and other debt securities
• representing the lead managers of Nordea Bank’s offering of US$1 billion dual-tranche senior preferred notes and all US-facing financings by Nordea Bank
• advising the initial purchasers on BT’s US$1 billion debut Rule 144A offering of hybrid capital securities
• representing Yellow Cake PLC in multiple placements of its AIM-listed ordinary shares
• advising Hong Kong Airport Authority on its US$1.5 billion debut US issuance of debt securities
• representing Assemblin on its €250 million senior secured floating-rate high-yield notes offering
• advising ALMEX as selling shareholder and Halyk Bank as issuer in connection with ALMEX’s US$344 million secondary offering of Halyk Bank GDRs
• representing the lead managers in multiple Rule 144A offerings of sovereign bonds by Egypt, including its jumbo US$3 billion offering in 2021 and its groundbreaking US$2 billion multi-tranche offering in 2020 (Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Sovereign Debt Deal of the Year)
• advising, on a pro bono basis, the World Health Organization on securities-law and related issues associated with its involvement in the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) and the funding of the PEF by the World Bank’s Catastrophe-Linked Capital at Risk Notes (IFLR Americas Structured Finance and Securitisation Deal of the Year)
• advising SAB Miller on US securities-law-related matters in connection with the AB InBev/SAB Miller acquisition

For Cecil’s additional transactional experience, click here.

Cecil is a recognised senior US practitioner in the London market and speaks regularly at a variety of professional conferences. He is an officer of the Securities Law Committee of the International Bar Association, sits on the Advisory Committee for Securities Regulation in Europe of the Practising Law Institute and served from 2005 until 2016 as a member of the board of directors of the High Yield Division of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (formerly the European High Yield Association). Cecil is also a member of the board of directors of Bank of Georgia Group PLC, the London-premium-listed/FTSE-250-constituent holding company for the largest commercial bank in Georgia. He is a trustee of the University of Virginia Law School Foundation, UK Friends of Harvard University, the Harvard Global Foundation and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Cecil received an A.B., magna cum laude with highest honors in History & Literature, in 1985 from Harvard University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. in 1988 from the University of Virginia, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and was a notes editor of the Virginia Law Review. He served as a law clerk to Hon. John D. Butzner, Senior Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1988-89. Cecil is admitted to practice in New York (1989) and the District of Columbia (1991), and is a registered foreign lawyer in England and Wales.