DLA Piper's Debt Finance team, part of the Finance & Projects group, closed three major deals last week indicating a significant increase in activity in the market.

Firstly, the Debt Finance team advised RBS and Santander in the refinancing of facilities which supported Hutton Collins and Management's acquisition of the Byron Hamburger chain. The team working on this deal included partner Philip Butler, legal director Andy Rose, senior associate Andrew Papworth and associate Mike Tanner.

This was followed by closing the financing of facilities made available to McColls, the largest independent newsagent and convenience store business in the UK, in connection with its recent IPO. A team including Philip Butler, associate Meghna Tiku, senior associate Smridhi Gulati and associate Harriet Roberts acted for a 4 bank syndicate including Barclays, RBS, AIB and Santander.

Completing the trio, London Head of Debt Finance David Miles and a team including Smridhi Gulati and associate Julia Garrett acted for the UBS Special Situations and Emerging Markets Lending team on its provision of a €65 million debt facility for Globalworth Real Estate Investments Ltd, the arrangement of this facility being consistent with the company's plans to use debt financing to improve returns on investments.

Philip Butler, UK Head of Finance & Projects at DLA Piper, said: "We are seeing a significant increase in activity in the debt finance market in the first quarter of 2014. The team has been very busy advising our longstanding lender clients and we expect this to continue throughout the rest of the year."