Banking & Finance

From single-lender corporate loans to heavily structured syndicated transactions, we offer premier, tailored advice to clients around the globe.

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  United States

  From leveraged and second lien financings to casino restructurings, our U.S. team helps clients seize opportunities and execute efficiently. We advised the largest lender in the $2.3 billion debt restructuring for a major Connecticut casino, the co-arrangers on the acquisition financing of a major oil company’s Caribbean operations, and the agent to the lenders in the restructuring and sale of a $1.2 billion shipping loan portfolio. We’ve also established ourselves as a pioneering firm in the burgeoning marketplace lending space, advising lenders such as Jefferies and New York Life, and a marketplace lending platform that provides financing for underserved credit seekers. Leveraging our international platform for our client’s cross-border deals, we assisted a U.S. datacenter operator on the financing of its acquisition of a Japanese target, helping our client cement its foothold and significant market share in Japan. And we advised the founder and chairman of a NASDAQ-listed Chinese online gaming company on the $900 million financing to take the company private. As needed, we draw on our market-leading practitioners to assemble tailored teams with experience in structured finance, project finance, real estate, regulatory, restructuring and tax law. While we have experience across the board, we have deep knowledge of the energy and infrastructure, transportation, technology, gaming and real estate sectors.

  United Kingdom

  Our UK team counsels mezzanine and unitranche lenders throughout the UK and Europe. We advance our clients’ goals across a broad range of critical transactions: leveraged and acquisition finance, alternative lending, direct lending, special situations, recapitalizations, private equity, venture capital, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and securitization and emerging markets financing. We work in all major industry sectors, with deep experience in technology, real estate and energy.

  France

  Our structured finance and securitization partners have advised on many groundbreaking transactions in France and Europe, including in the area of covered bonds, corporate structured bonds and the establishment of dedicated origination and refinancing platforms. We also participate in drafting securitization and structured finance legislation and regulations in France.

  We guided the lenders and bond holders through the first project finance transaction in France under the new Juncker Plan and the financing of the Ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-mer concession, and closed a multijurisdictional real estate financing transaction secured by 14 logistics assets in six European countries. We also advised on the debt restructuring of a major French paper company and handled several ONDD-covered satellite financings on behalf of the lenders. Décideurs Stratégie Finance Droit ranks us as the top firm for Maritime Finance, and one of the leading firms for Banking and Finance, Project Finance, Real Estate Finance and Restructuring in France.

  Emerging Markets

  Our Washington D.C, New York and Paris-based team has unique relationships with alternative investors who have taken creditor positions in some of the largest sovereign debt issuances and restructurings. Due to COVID-19, many countries have heightened debt sustainability concerns, and our team also advises governments on recapitalizations. With the only senior IMF lawyer in private practice, a market-leading public finance practice and a highly-rated restructuring group, we offer distinctive insights to asset managers, real money investors and hedge funds on sovereign debt and restructurings as well as large scale corporate restructurings and project financings. Our team has recently represented creditor committees in the Belize and Argentina sovereign debt restructurings and advised on two bond issuances for the Kingdom of Morocco.

  Italy

  Chambers Europe 2021 describes our Italy team as “solid, prepared and well organized," while going further to emphasize that "[our] negotiation and managing skills are of high quality." We have pioneered the Italian securitization markets, and have extensive experience in nonperforming loans, debt capital markets, derivatives, real estate finance and general lending transactions. When the Italy energy giant Eni sold off a large stake in the natural gas company Snam – one of the largest and most closely watched deals in the Italian market – we provided comprehensive advice to Snam on a debt refinancing that made the transaction possible. The complex refinancing involved an €11 billion capital raise and a €1.5 billion bond issue. More recently, we advised Snam on a €750 million buy-back transaction with BNP Paribas and other banks – the first intermediated buy-back in the Italian market.

  And we have played an integral role in the growth of the innovative new Italian minibond market. With small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling to secure traditional bank loans, Italy has instituted legal reforms to make it easier for them to tap the debt capital markets. Our team has advised a wide range of market participants, including issuers, investors, regulators, banking industry groups and the Borsa Italiana. We contributed to the drafting of the Italian Stock Exchange’s guidelines on the use of minibonds, advised on the first issuance and formed the first minibond fund. Altogether, we’ve advised participants in more than half of the 90 minibonds issued since 2013.