Berend Crans has a broad finance practice. In addition to general banking and finance transactions, he specialises in asset and project finance. Throughout his career at De Brauw, Berend has represented lessees, lenders and equity investors in numerous cross-border lease transactions. He has played a pioneering role in designing new transaction structures and restructuring existing structures to accommodate new asset classes. He also advises clients in structured finance transactions and debt restructurings.

Berend has particular expertise in aviation law and aircraft finance and has been involved, mainly as lessor or lender counsel, in many aircraft finance transactions, including JLLs, GLLs, ECA supported transactions, acquisitions of aircraft lease portfolios and securitisations. Berend has represented lessors and lenders in airline insolvencies.

Recent work includes advising:

• Export-Import Bank of the United States in a number of ECA supported aircraft finance transactions
• VION in a EUR 300 million trade receivables securitisation
• Dutch grid manager TenneT in its acquisition financing regarding German grid manager Transpower.

Other work includes representing:

• Rabobank in connection with letter of credit facilities provided to Austrian municipalities in the context of the restructuring of US cross border lease transactions
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York in connection with the restructuring of ILFC
• a Japanese financial institution in connection with Japanese Operating Lease transactions involving Boeing 737 aircraft leased to a Dutch airline.

From 2005 to 2009 Berend Crans was a member of De Brauw’s management committee and headed the firm’s Finance Practice. He is the former chair of the Aviation Law Committee of the International Bar Association and is a member of the Editorial Board of Air & Space Law. Berend is co-editor of the handbook on Aircraft Repossession and Enforcement which covers 32 jurisdictions, and co-author of the Dutch chapter. He also heads De Brauw's aviation industry group. He publishes regularly on asset and structured finance issues, as well as aircraft finance and aviation law and is a frequent guest speaker on these topics at conferences. Berend is a guest lecturer with Leiden University’s aviation law LLM programme and with the structured finance programme at Amsterdam University.