James Zhu advises on securitisations, derivatives and structured products linked to a range of asset classes, including commercial real estate, trade receivables, equities, fund and credit linked products for a broad client base including investment banks, hedge funds and private equity houses. James has also advised clients in the Fintech industry, including on structuring token offerings and issuing structured notes linked to cryptocurrencies.

Prior to joining Dechert, James trained at Linklaters where he spent time on secondment at two global investment banks, supporting their fixed income and fund derivatives desks respectively and also gained experience at Sidley Austin’s global finance practice.

    • UK and European investment banks on their launch of a bespoke securitisation financing facility backed by commercial real estate repo transactions facing US private equite houses.
    • A US private equity house on the purchase and securitisation of European pay-day loan receivables.
    • Investment banks and funds on negotiation and closing out trading agreements, including ISDAs, GMRAs and GMSLAs.
    • Various investment banks on the establishment and drawdowns under their SPV repackaging platforms for the issuance of structured products.
    • A European investment bank on its managed accounts platform providing bespoke exposures (volatility controlled) to fund of funds through securitised and OTC derivatives.
    • A UK investment bank on their establishment of an agency repo/stock lending platform.
    • A US investment management company on a bid to acquire a portfolio of non-performing loans originated by Alpha Bank and secured against the assets of Greek SMEs.
    • A listed cryptoexchange on its establishment of a Bitcoin linked private placement programme and issuance of other crypto-linked notes.
    • A fintech start up on the establishment of a platform of the issuance, trading and settlement of tokens using distributed ledger technology.
    • A clearing house on the update of its client rulebook and legal implementation of more streamlined settlement and collateral arrangements, including the use of blockchain technology.