Overview
Behind every significant transaction in Fiji — every acquisition, every property development, every infrastructure project, every working-capital line — there is a financing. And behind every financing there is a set of documents that, if drafted carelessly, will become the most expensive paragraphs the parties ever read.
Our banking and finance practice, led by Managing Partner Neel Shivam, acts on both sides of those documents. We are panel counsel to Fiji's major commercial banks on their lending into the Fijian market; we act for corporate borrowers, sponsors and treasurers negotiating with those banks; and we advise on the cross-border and syndicated arrangements that bring international capital into the Fiji Islands.
The Fijian financing market has distinctive features — the Reserve Bank of Fiji's exchange-control regime, the interaction between Fijian security and overseas collateral, the practicalities of taking security over native or state-leased land through the iTaukei Land Trust Board, and the role of FRCS in stamp-duty and capital-gains treatment. Our practice is built around those features.
Both sides of the table
The unusual feature of our finance practice is that we genuinely act on both sides — and we do so without the institutional bias most firms accumulate when one side comes to dominate the work. Conflicts are managed carefully and our engagements are scoped to ensure that the partners advising a borrower today are not the partners who acted for the lender on a similar facility yesterday.
Bank-side counsel.
Panel counsel to Fiji's major commercial banks — facility documentation, security drafting, conditions precedent, legal opinions and enforcement.
Borrower-side negotiation.
Acting for corporate borrowers, sponsors and treasurers — facility negotiation, security analysis, covenant push-back and the operational mechanics of drawing.
What we do
We advise across the full range of Fijian financing transactions.
Secured & unsecured commercial lending
Bilateral and club facilities for working capital, asset finance, property development and acquisition finance. Drafting and negotiation of facility agreements, security documents, intercreditor arrangements and conditions precedent.
Project & infrastructure finance
Sponsor- and lender-side counsel on hotel, resort, renewable-energy and infrastructure projects — including the regulatory, land-tenure and construction-contract dimensions these involve.
Cross-border & syndicated facilities
Where Fijian borrowers are funded by Australian, New Zealand or international lenders, we act as Fiji counsel — issuing legal opinions, perfecting security and coordinating with offshore counsel on the broader transaction.
Security creation & perfection
Mortgages over freehold and state-lease land, fixed and floating charges, debentures, share charges, liens, letters and deeds of priority or subordination. Registration at the Titles Office and Companies Office.
iTaukei-leased land security
Specialist counsel on mortgages over iTaukei-leased land, including iTLTB consents, lender protections at enforcement, and the specific structuring this distinctive Fijian tenure requires.
Reserve Bank of Fiji & regulatory
Exchange-control approvals, capital-flow documentation, banking-licence advice and ongoing regulatory matters touching the financial-services sector.
Debt restructuring & workouts
Counsel to lenders and borrowers on facility amendments, standstill arrangements, refinancings and the difficult conversations that occasionally precede them.
Security enforcement & recovery
Receivership, mortgagee sale, guarantor recovery and the litigation that follows defaulted commercial facilities. See our litigation practice →
How we work
Finance is a discipline of detail. Our practice is built around that reality.
We use established precedent documentation calibrated to Fijian law — adapted from international templates but tested in our courts. Where we act for borrowers, we negotiate from a position of knowing what Fiji's banks will and won't accept; where we act for lenders, our documentation reflects the realities of Fijian enforcement.
Most of our finance matters involve a partner directly. The team works to bank timetables — which means we work to bank timetables — and we are reachable on weekends and after hours when a drawdown demands it. Our reputation with the major Fijian banks rests on that responsiveness as much as on the legal work itself.
Bringing capital into Fiji?
Speak with us early.
Cross-border financings benefit substantially from Fijian-counsel input at the term-sheet stage — not at closing. A short conversation now can prevent expensive restructuring later.
Request a partner call →Representative matters
A selection of recent and historic work, anonymised to protect client confidentiality.
Acted as Fiji counsel to a syndicate of Australian and Fijian lenders on a substantial facility for a hotel acquisition in the Mamanuca Islands, including security perfection over iTaukei-leased land.
Advised a major Fijian bank on the restructuring of a substantial property-development facility, including additional security arrangements and revised covenant package.
Acted for a renewable-energy sponsor on the project-finance arrangements for a Fijian solar generation project, including offtake, EPC and lender documentation.
Advised an Indian-headquartered borrower on Reserve Bank of Fiji exchange-control approvals for the repatriation of dividends and intra-group financing.
Acted on enforcement of a defaulted commercial facility for a major Fijian bank, including the appointment of a receiver and the subsequent mortgagee sale of secured property.
Acted as Fiji counsel on a cross-border secured facility from a Hong Kong lender to a Fijian hospitality operator, including the parallel security arrangements under Fijian and Hong Kong law.
When to call us
- You are a lender requiring Fiji-side counsel on a Fijian financing — including legal opinions, security perfection and local conditions precedent.
- You are a borrower negotiating substantial debt and want the documentation reviewed by counsel that will tell you which clauses to push back on.
- You are sponsoring a project requiring construction or operating finance in the Fiji Islands.
- A facility is under stress and a restructure, standstill or workout is contemplated.
- An enforcement is required — receivership, mortgagee sale or recovery proceedings.
- A Reserve Bank of Fiji approval, exchange-control matter or banking-regulatory issue has arisen.
- You require security over iTaukei-leased land — a specialist area where careful structuring at the outset prevents downstream complications.
Frequently asked questions
Can security be taken over iTaukei-leased land in Fiji?+
Yes — a mortgage can be granted over an iTaukei lease, but with conditions. The iTaukei Land Trust Board (iTLTB) must consent to the mortgage and to any subsequent dealings, including a mortgagee sale. The practical implication is that lender protection over iTaukei-leased land requires careful structuring at the outset — we routinely advise on the documentation and the consents required.
What is the typical security package for a Fijian commercial loan?+
Most secured commercial lending in Fiji is supported by a registered mortgage over land (where applicable), a debenture over the company's assets and undertaking, share charges over the borrower's shares (in the holding company), and personal guarantees from key shareholders or directors. The exact package is calibrated to the loan size, the borrower's covenant strength and the lender's policy.
How long does it take to perfect security in Fiji?+
Registration of a mortgage over freehold land is typically completed within a few weeks of lodgement at the Titles Office, subject to any consents required. iTaukei-lease mortgages require iTLTB consent and can take longer. Debentures and other security documents are registered with the Companies Office and are typically completed faster. We work to bank closing timetables and build the registration sequence into the conditions precedent.
Does Fiji recognise security granted under overseas law?+
Fiji recognises certain types of overseas-law security where they comply with Fijian conflicts-of-laws principles, but the practical reality is that security over Fijian assets is usually granted under Fijian law to ensure enforceability. Where a cross-border transaction involves both Fijian and overseas assets, parallel security under each governing law is the conventional approach.
Are exchange-control approvals required for cross-border lending into Fiji?+
Yes — the Reserve Bank of Fiji's Exchange Control Act regime applies to cross-border capital flows including foreign borrowings, dividend remittances and intra-group financing. The approvals are usually obtainable and routine for genuine commercial transactions, but they must be obtained, and they should be addressed early in the transaction timetable, not at closing.
Can you act on both sides — for the bank and the borrower?+
Not on the same transaction. Where we are panel counsel to a particular bank, we conflict-check rigorously before accepting borrower-side work on facilities involving that lender. On transactions involving other lenders we have no such constraint. The first call on any new engagement is a conflict check; we will be transparent if a conflict exists.