If you are an overseas borrower, guarantor or obligor under an English law loan or facility agreement, yes. Standard market documentation includes a service of process clause requiring an agent in England and Wales, and the signed letter of appointment routinely sits on the conditions precedent list, so drawdown waits for it.
Why lenders insist
A lender's remedies are only as good as its ability to enforce them, and enforcement starts with valid service. Facility agreements based on standard market forms therefore oblige every overseas obligor to appoint and maintain a process agent for the life of the facility, with the appointment expressed to be irrevocable. In syndicated deals the requirement covers each overseas member of the obligor group, including guarantors acceding later.
How the appointment is handled in practice
Borrower's counsel usually asks us for a letter of appointment during conditions precedent gathering. One appointment can cover the facility agreement together with related finance documents, such as security agreements, intercreditor deeds and fee letters, with multi agreement cover adding £30 for a second document and £60 for three or more. A fixed term matching the facility, for example £480 for five years, is the most common structure, giving the agent bank cover locked in for the whole tenor.
Accessions, extensions and refinancings
Facilities evolve: new guarantors accede, terms extend, debt refinances. Tell us and the appointment follows the deal, whether that means additional letters of appointment for new parties at £50 per letter or an extension of the term. Where timing is tight against a signing, our same day letter service (£150, order forms before 2pm UK time) keeps completion on schedule.