Following two years as a partner with Allen & Overy in their Hong Kong projects group, the imminent return of internationally recognised banking and finance lawyer, Grant Fuzi, to Clayton Utz reflects the firm’s growing stature in the sector.
Announcing Mr Fuzi’s August return, the head of the Clayton Utz’ Banking & Finance group Brian Salter said, “Grant is recognised internationally for his substantial experience in project finance, syndicated financing, acquisition financing and structured finance. His return, coinciding with that of Brad Vann to the Melbourne office’s projects practice after three years within the firm’s management structure, will substantially add to both the depth and the international expertise our project finance team offers the Australian business community.
“Grant’s experience as a Magic Circle partner at Allen & Overy substantially boosted his international project finance reputation. He has been involved in some of Asia’s biggest and most complex deals. Last year for instance he advised on the development of the Phu My power project in Vietnam. This was the first limited recourse project finance undertaken in Vietnam and won almost every award available, including Asian project finance deal of the year in 2002.
Mr Fuzi expects his experience as a Magic Circle partner in Hong Kong to continue to impact on his return to Australia, which he is doing, he says, for purely personal reasons.
Brian Salter believes Grant’s return complements the firm’s recruitment strategy. “We want a team that enables us to benchmark the quality of our work against the best on offer internationally. The fact that people such as Grant Fuzi, Janet Firkin from London and Geoffrey Grice from Japan have all chosen Clayton Utz testifies to the success of this approach.
“The newcomers add to what was already an extremely strong team. Prior to his stint in management Brad Vann, who is undoubtedly one of Australia’s leading project lawyers with extensive experience in the energy, utilities and infrastructure sectors, played a key role in some landmark projects. Notable amongst his projects are the Melbourne City Link (one of the largest civil engineering projects in Australia since the Snowy Mountains Scheme) and the financing of the Loy Yang B power station. He also has considerable international experience and has been involved with the West Seti project, advising the sponsor of an independent power project in Nepal for the supply of electricity by export to various Indian States,” Mr Salter concluded.
