OUR FINANCIAL SERVICES PRACTICE

Financial services are, along with tax planning, a core activity of Muscat Azzopardi & Associates. Our clients include finance institutions, credit institutions, investment companies, fund management organizations, and corporations. We advise on the setting up of new funds and fund management companies, collective investment schemes, and on the incorporation of tax-efficient on shore and offshore companies, including compliance procedures and licensing requirements. Our lawyers have a firm understanding of commercial issues and the legal regime faced by operators, regulators, and investors, and advise on all aspects of structuring fund investments effectively and tax-efficiently.

We have substantial experience in advising practitioners, regulatory bodies and governments on issues concerning domestic and international regulation. We advise on authorization, location issues, reorganization of investment businesses, general conduct of business, product launches, enforcement, and contentious matters.

We register and service international trading and international holding companies, and through an affiliated company we act as nominee shareholder/director, and/or secretary. In this capacity, we provide the full range of back office services, including financial planning. We also specialize in the registration and formation of trusts and foundations, with the provision of trustees.

Our firm provides optimum advice on how best to use the benefits that obtain under Maltese financial services legislation.

In the field of financing, we act for borrowers, lenders, lessors and lessees, advising on all types of domestic and international finance. We handle all legal, analytical and drafting concepts and techniques for aircraft, property, trade, acquisition, receivables, project, derivatives, and other forms of financing. Our practice covers the whole range of finance activity, including asset-based financing, bank regulation, corporate lending, project financing, trade financing, securitisations, receivables financing, risk reduction and exposure management, netting and foreign exchange, operation of clearing systems, acquisition financing, management buy-outs, restructurings, property financing, and structured finance.

Muscat Azzopardi & Associates have been at the forefront of the setting up of offshore banks in Malta.

Our banking practice advises on corporate debt facilities, international and domestic syndications and bilateral facilities, acquisitions, export and public sector finance, and other debt transactions.

We are active in asset securitisation and related off-balance-sheet financing techniques. We structure public and private transactions involving trade receivables, commercial real estate loans, credit card receivables, and loan and lease receivables.

Our corporate fiduciary practice advises on a broad range of fiduciary issues that extend beyond the limits of primary functional regulators because they involve trust and estate administration, investment advisory services, mutual funds, derivative products, and real estate. We represent financial institutions in the structuring, operation and maintenance of investment funds and other financial products, and advise banks, brokers/dealers, and investment advisors as to the interaction of tax, fiduciary, securities, and other regulatory issues. We also counsel clients as to the requirements for tax-advantaged funds, and the conversion of common trust funds to mutual funds.