OUR PEOPLE / FRED VROOM

Fred VroomPartner, Paris
fred.vroom@incelaw.com
+33(0)1 53 76 91 00

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Fred qualified as an English solicitor in 1977 and practised company/commercial law and litigation in London. He moved to Paris in 1979, where he was admitted to the Paris Bar as an ‘avocat’ in 1993.

Fred was director of the international legal department of a French bank for ten years where he handled banking regulatory issues, security laws, syndicated loans, structured asset financings, and trade/commodities and corporate cross-border financings.

He specialises in cross-border financings and acquisitions, particularly within the shipping and airline industries, and trade finance (letters of credit, futures and commodities and financial derivatives OTCs and Exchange contracts). He is equally at ease as a transactional adviser and as a litigator before the French courts and in arbitrations. He also advises clients on international mediations.

Born in The Netherlands, brought up in Mexico and England and living in France, Fred is fluent in English, French, Dutch and Spanish.

With his background in finance, Fred thrives on anything where the ‘figures matter’.

Thus, he advises clients on financings for capital-intensive shipping and aviation projects (cruise-ships, gas carriers, cable-layers, ferries, wide-bodied aircraft) and mergers & acquisitions and international joint ventures.

Among Fred’s clients are ship-owners/operators, banks, and traders.

"One of the best all-round shipping specialists in the French market."
Chambers & Partners, 2007

Fred regularly advises aircraft operators on wet & dry leases, corporate sale & purchases and operational matters.

He advises financiers on repossession and manufacturers’ support devices, often within a ‘credit enhancement’ logic.

Fred has recently advised a major international tour operator in relation to its acquisition of more than 60 new Airbus aircraft (319, 320, 330, 350 and 380 series).

 

Fred has a solid background in banking and structured finance, gained in over ten years as head of the international legal department of a leading French bank particularly renown in shipping and trade finance. Thus, he frequently advises on trade contracts, letters of credit, forward purchase and swap contracts, Exchange and OTC futures and derivative transactions.