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Applied Skills

LMA Docs: Events of Default (FLT-ED)


Description

The LMA: Events of Default course covers what happens when a borrower breaches the loan agreement, and why the answer decides the balance of power between borrower and lender. It works from the Loan Market Association standard form.

The course opens with acceleration, the right that makes the rest of the agreement work. Acceleration converts a long-term debt into a current liability the borrower almost certainly cannot pay, which is why lenders so rarely use it. Participants see why an agreement includes 25 or 30 events of default when a lender only cares about being repaid: each gives the lender the right to accelerate, and the ability to renegotiate.

From there, participants work through the distinction between a Default and an Event of Default. A Default is the orange light, the event that becomes an Event of Default on the expiry of a grace period or the making of a determination. An Event of Default is the red light. The course covers where that distinction should decide the drafting: conditions precedent, rollover loans, and margin ratchets.
The course then examines the definition of continuing, buried in the interpretation clause without a capital letter. Whether an Event of Default continues until remedied or waived, or only until waived, decides whether a borrower can still cure after the grace period. Grace periods, reservation of rights letters, and estoppel are covered alongside it.

By the end, participants will be able to read a default clause and say what triggers it, what a borrower can still do about it, and what the lender group gains when it is triggered. They will also recognize the drafting choices that move power between the parties.

Starting Date: CPD Accredited: No

Content
  • Introduction to LMA Docs: Events of Default
  • What is an Event of Default?
  • Key clause in a Typical Loan Agreement: The Power to Accelerate
  • A Continuing Event of Default
  • The Interpretation Section
  • The importance of the word "continuing"
  • Types of Events of Default and their Consequences
  • The Concept of Estoppel and the Role of Reservation of Rights
  • What is a Default? Part 1
  • What is a Default? Part 2
  • Workshop
  • Rollover Loan in Revolving Credits
  • Margin Ratchet
  • The Right of the Borrower to Remedy an Event of Default
  • Concluding Remarks
Completion rules
  • All units must be completed
  • Leads to a certificate with a duration: Forever