Claus Bennetsen is a very experienced banking & finance practitioner.
He works with finance transactions and capital structurings and acts for a number of the world’s largest banks and their borrowers, often in conjunction with leading international law firms on public-to-private transactions (such as TDC and Simcorp) and private equity, property portfolio and infrastructure and energy transactions on the basis of LMA-documentation, U.S. style documentation or through issues of bonds or notes in Denmark, Luxembourg, U.S.A. or Norway.
He has also been involved in some of the largest PPPs in Denmark such as the Kliplev motorway (for the financing banks) the UCC College at Carlsberg Byen (for the developer structuring an inflation-linked 30 year bond). In the infrastructure field he has worked on some of the largest Danish infrastructure projects such as the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline.
His finance activities also involve workouts and restructurings involving “stranded assets” or outright bankruptcy situations where he will act as administrator. He has been involved in some of the largest listed company defaults such as O.W. Bunker (acting for the Lenders) and Eurotrust (appointed administrator by the Lenders) and has worked on complex asset workouts such as a BOOT contract on a waste to energy incinerator in Gibraltar.
If required, he will assist lenders and others with litigation in Denmark providing strategic advice on the running of the litigation in conjunction with the firm’s financial litigation group. He acts as an expert witness on Danish law before foreign courts. He is a Fellow of the Chartered institute of Arbitrators and sits as an arbitrator in commercial disputes, often with a financial product angle.
His regulatory work covers, in particular, private investment funds under the AIFMD regime, acting both for the international fund managers targeting the Danish 600bnEUR pension funds industry and for the pension funds on their outbound investments, setting up the relevant structures for holding such investments. He has assisted in setting up fund structures in Denmark, including the largest debt fund, in Luxembourg, Ireland and the U.S.A. He advised on the first hedge fund product being brought to the Danish market and is also involved in the UCITS market as the chairperson of the Danish independent UCITS platform, IA invest.
In his regulatory work he is also involved in regulatory M&A having been involved in inter alia Banque International à Luxembourg’s disposal of their activities in Denmark and in a number of mutual savings bank transactions in Denmark.
Claus is a member of the firm’s AML advisory group advising all types of businesses subject to the EU AML rules.
He also often represents foreign companies setting up or having subsidiaries or other operations in Denmark coordinating the full range of legal services offered to such clients by Horten.
He is mentioned in the following international legal directories:
Legal 500 - Banking & Finance and Capital markets (Recommended Lawyer)
Chambers - Banking & Finance
IFLR1000 - Banking & Finance, Project Development (Highly regarded)