• People banner

    People

Edith Lai

Senior Associate

Edith Lai is a debt financing specialist, representing banks, debt funds, investment managers, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

edith-lai

About

Edith advises on corporate and real estate finance transactions, with extensive experience in a diverse range of asset classes such as logistics, student accommodations, and healthcare. Specialising in complex cross-border deals, she frequently engages with parties from Continental Europe and Asia.

Edith is fluent in written and spoken Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) and is a key member of the Firm’s China Desk and Asia Focus Group. She is active within the UK’s Chinese-speaking business community. She has served for many years on the committee of the Hong Kong Society and is currently Vice-Chair of the Hong Kong Business Network.

Edith is admitted to practise in England and Wales.

Experience

  • Representing EQT Real Estate, a global real estate investment manager, on a series of financings in the logistics and industrial sectors in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. 
  • Acting for a leading European Private Bank on a range of property investment transactions totalling over £250m in value.
  • Acting for Countryside Partnerships, part of the Vistry Group, on its joint venture with Abri to develop 1,500 homes in Arundel, West Sussex.
  • Advising Downing LLP on the development financing for the development of Kao Data Centres campus, the UK’s largest data centre campus currently under development.
  • Advising Lum Chang Holdings on the debt financing of Kelaty House, which is a development of 300-bed Apartment Hotel and 600-bed student accommodation arranged within five separate buildings over an underground basement car park.
  • Acting for a JPUT (Jersey Property Unit Trust) backed by a HNW family office on its investment financings of a portfolio of strategically located residential properties and a mixed use commercial property in St James’s, London.
  • Acts for Puma Property Finance on development lending in the residential and healthcare sectors.
  • Advising Country Court Care, a leading UK nursing care home operator, on its investment and development financing arrangements.
  • Advising Kreos Capital on its growth capital and debt investments to a number of early to mid-stage healthcare and life sciences ventures.
  • Advising a listed multinational communications group on its on-going multicurrency working capital facility.
  • Acting for a major Asian bank on the financing for the acquisition and development of aparthotels in Central London.
  • Acting for a leading Singapore-listed property developer on the debt financing of their investment in Central London offices.

Our thinking

  • Charles Russell Speechlys Partner Promotions 2025

    Bart Peerless

    News

  • Charles Russell Speechlys advises Countryside Partnerships on its joint venture with Abri to develop 1,500 homes in West Sussex

    Sarah Wigington

    News

  • 11K Consulting and Luxury London quote Edith Lai on China’s reopening

    Edith Lai

    In The Press

  • Healthcare team advises Country Court Care on £57m sale of three care homes

    Michael Lingens

    News

Back to top