Welcome to the Q2 2017 edition of the Addleshaw Goddard Corporate Borrower Update.

It has been an exciting quarter for the firm with our combination with Scottish firm HBJ Gateley completing on 1 June. We see this as an opportunity to deliver stronger UK-wide offerings in response to increasing client demand for advisers with a capability on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. New offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen will build on the firm's position in the City, Leeds and Manchester, alongside its growing presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Doha and Muscat.

The combination will enable us both to provide a seamless service to clients and advisors on deals which involve a Scottish element and to offer greater depth and flexibility of resource for the benefit of all of our clients. We are delighted to have already secured new growth opportunities for the combined firm and we look forward to working much more closely with corporate borrowers headquartered in Scotland, or with a Scottish presence, in the future.

It has been a busy quarter in general for the corporate banking team at AG. Not only have we welcomed our new Scottish colleagues but, following a busy year acting on a number of high profile transactions, AG's London banking team has made a number of senior additions to its leveraged and corporate banking team.

Notably, Beth Collett joins us from Allen & Overy, strengthening our debt capital markets offering. Beth's practice includes advising bond issuers, managers and trustees and her experience ranges from advising on government gilt issues, local authority and university financing and issues by corporates. She is described by Chambers and Partners as "incredibly knowledgeable and very responsive" as well as being listed as a 'Leading Individual' by Legal 500. In the next issue of this update we will explore the ways in which corporate borrowers can access public and private bond markets and the benefits of debt capital market instruments in addition, or as an alternative, to bank debt.

It would be remiss to ignore the result of this month's general election and the impact this will undoubtedly have on Brexit and on the market more generally. We hope to be able to not only support you through the technical thinking around Brexit, but also to help you to get on with running your business during these times of macro uncertainty. Do feel free to contact any member of our team with your queries.

In this issue of the Corporate Borrower Update, we will take stock of market trends and consider the impact this has had on documentation. We are continuing to see high levels of liquidity in the market and, for the time being, pricing and terms remain competitive. At page 1 onwards, we take a look at commonly negotiated topics and discuss changes to previous norms in light of current market conditions.

At page 3 onwards, we also shine a spotlight on the impact of withholding tax for borrowers. At a time when access to international capital is increasingly attractive we hope to highlight ways in which it is becoming easier for borrowers to access overseas sources of funding without experiencing frictional tax costs.

We do hope these articles are of interest – please do not hesitate to contact any of the team if you would like to discuss anything contained in this issue or if there are topics which you would like us to tackle in future editions (see page 5 onwards).

Read our full update here