Stephenson Harwood has hired Saugata Mukherjee, most recently a senior associate with Freshfields in London, as a partner in its aviation and structured finance practice in Singapore.

Mukherjee, a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, was part of Freshfields’ structured and asset finance group. He has expertise in advising on aircraft financing structures, including sale and leasebacks, secured loans, finance leases, and PDP lending structures.

Mukherjee has acted for banks, corporates and airlines on aircraft and structured financings, including the development of tax-driven aircraft financing.

"Saugata's background - working for both a law firm and an investment bank - gives him a unique breadth of experience, which will enhance our aviation finance team in Singapore," said Paul Ng, Stephenson Harwood's global head of aviation, in a statement.

The firm has recently worked on a number of high-profile deals in the aviation sector. In May, it won the Asset and Corporate Finance Deal of the Year award at the 2012 ALB SE Asia Law Awards for its work advising Lion Air on the biggest ever airline order for 230 Boeing 737 aircrafts (including Boeing's new 737 MAX aircraft), valued at $21.7 billion.

Ranajit Dam is Southeast Asia Editor at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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