Financing disputes

NORMA has particular experience in disputes concerning financing such as loans or corporate bonds. Financing disputes are fundamentally no different from other disputes and can be settled in court or by arbitration, depending on what the parties have agreed.

The key difference is that financing disputes are rarely about who is right on the merits. Basically, there is a loan agreement which means that in principle there is never any doubt that the borrower is obliged to repay the loan plus interest. Instead, there are other issues that arise.

For example, in syndicated loans and corporate bonds, the lenders are normally a collective with no common representatives. In corporate bonds, this is normally handled by the lenders’ rights being represented by a so-called security agent. NORMA has experience of working with and against Swedish collateral agents and of handling disputes within the framework of Swedish bonds.

The issues that arise regularly have to do with the handling of collateral such as pledged shares or property. Not infrequently, a loan or bond may need to be restructured or refinanced. If it is not possible to find such a solution, there will ultimately be questions about claims against guarantors, pledge realisation or other forms of enforcement.