S&C’s Credit and Leveraged Finance Group has built a solid reputation by representing a wide range of clients, both in the United States and around the world, in some of the most complex, innovative and market-leading financing transactions. Our broad expertise in commercial transactions, securities, M&A, private equity, banking and bank regulatory, tax and bankruptcy enables us to apply a multidisciplinary approach to our credit and leveraged finance practice – a characteristic and ability that set us apart from most law firms. In addition to substantive breadth, we have substantial experience in the major financial markets, with experienced partners representing clients in financing transactions around the world based in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Washington, D.C., as well as our home office in New York.
We advise a range of borrowers, principals, sponsors and lenders in credit and leveraged finance transactions, bringing a breadth of perspective and practical experience to our representation of manufacturing, technology, energy, telecommunications and service companies as borrowers, private equity and hedge funds as sponsors, and investment, merchant and commercial banks and financial institutions as borrowers and lenders, as well as lending syndicates, agents and underwriters, financial advisers and investors. We also represent a large number of governments and governmental entities across the spectrum of private, public and government-assisted financing transactions.
Our experience spans the full complement of financing techniques and products, including credit agreements and revolvers, equity and debt bridges, high-yield bonds, leveraged loans, senior secured loans, second-lien debt, mezzanine debt, PIK/toggle instruments, project bonds, convertible and other hybrid securities, working capital lines and liquidity facilities, warehouse facilities, swaps and other hedging mechanisms, secured financing, and asset-based and asset-backed financing.
What Distinguishes S&C’s Credit and Leveraged Finance Practice?
The sole measure of our success is the differential value we generate for clients in specific transactions and relationships, whether it is in the form of an advantageous purchase price adjustment, a regulatory outcome, a negotiating strategy, a tax efficiency, the elimination of a key transaction risk, the working through of an impasse, the design of a better process for deal management, or simply extraordinary dedication to your cause. We refer to this as “the S&C difference” and it is typified by the following three characteristics that distinguishes S&C’s credit and leveraged finance practice:
Our Multidisciplinary Approach and Global Footprint
When you hire S&C, you gain access to lawyers in twelve offices on four continents with expertise across many industries – many of whom have been recognized as leading lawyers in their respective fields. Our credit and leveraged finance lawyers have substantial experience in multiple jurisdictions, across borders and continents and with a variety of clients and legal environments. In the past few years, we have been actively engaged in the financing for both sponsor-led and strategic acquisitions; in structuring and documenting liquidity and working capital facilities; and in project financings, exchange offers, refinancings and restructurings around the world. We are able to leverage our leading expertise in financial institutions, insurance, restructuring and bankruptcy, M&A, private equity and real estate matters in all aspects of financing transactions. For example, our leading M&A franchise means we play a major role in an enormous volume of credit and leveraged finance transactions in the market which, in turn, enables us to identify issues and provide thorough and complete solutions to our credit and leveraged finance clients. This multidisciplinary approach means greater adaptability, peripheral vision and capacity to innovate – especially as the finance markets become more and more regulated. In an increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment, our clients increasingly value our help in their management of legal risk and the precision, optionality and flexibility we bring to the negotiation and documentation of their transactions.
Our Significant Market Experience and Dedication to Client Service
S&C is a leading international law firm with perhaps the most diverse base of clients and work of any major law firm. Our lawyers have been involved in some of the most groundbreaking leveraged, structured bank lending, capital markets and other finance transactions, and have significant experience across capital structures, asset types and client industries. Our credit and leveraged finance practice includes the representation of buyers, sellers, sponsors and borrowers in strategic contexts and the representation of arrangers in the design, negotiation and syndication of innovative facilities.
In addition, our capital markets, M&A and private equity practices are recognized as premier among international firms. We are recognized as the perennial leader in global M&A, ranking first by value among law firms representing principals and first in SEC-registered offerings by U.S. and non-U.S. issuers. This extraordinary load of transaction experience provides us with familiarity with the full complement of financial products in today's market and the capacity to efficiently and effectively develop innovative solutions to unique and complex transaction objectives. It means that we continue to be on familiar ground even if the transaction takes a turn away from the expected form or documentation.
Our Leading Finance Regulatory Practice
S&C has a leading global financial institutions regulatory practice and has remained at the forefront of all issues and developments since the beginning of the global credit crisis. With the sweeping regulatory changes ushered in by the passing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, some of our prospective clients will need a firm that has the regulatory expertise to work preemptively to anticipate the many issues at play in this highly regulated sector. Over the past two years, the Firm has helped shape global regulatory developments affecting financial institutions and has assisted dozens of clients as they navigated what U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called “the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.” During this unprecedented time, S&C advised financial institutions clients in emergency situations – including in sales, acquisitions and restructuring arrangements – in more than 30 separate transactions totaling over $100 billion.
Selected Clients
Selected recent clients served by S&C’s Credit and Leveraged Finance Group include:
Corporates
Abertis Infraestructuras (Spain; Construction Services)
American Casino & Entertainment Properties (U.S.; Hotel and Casino)
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Canada; Biotechnology & Drugs)
Anheuser Busch/InBev (U.S./Belgium; Food and Beverage)
Aquilex (U.S.; Energy)
Brinker International (U.S.; Restaurants)
Collective Brands (formerly Payless ShoeSource) (U.S.; Retail, Apparel)
CONMED Corporation (U.S.; Medical Technology)
Duquesne Light (U.S.; Electric Utilities)
EchoStar (U.S.; Broadcasting & Cable T.V.)
Fender Musical Instruments, Inc. (U.S.; Household Audio and Visual Equipment)
Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler Group LLC (U.S. and Italy; Automotive)
Fortescue (Australia; Iron Ore)
Hovensa (Virgin Islands; Oil & Gas)
IMS Health Incorporated (U.S.; Healthcare)
Morgans Hotel Group (U.S.; Hotels and Motels)
NXP B.V. (The Netherlands; Semiconductors and Related Devices)
Rainbow National Services, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (U.S.; Broadcasting & Cable T.V.)
Royal Philips Electronics (The Netherlands; Semiconductors and Related Devices)
Swisscom AG (Switzerland; Telecommunications Services)
Talecris Biotherapeutics (U.S.; Biotechnology)
UnitedHealth Group (U.S.; Healthcare Services)
VeriFone Inc. (U.S.; Electronic Payment Systems)
Vornado Realty Trust (U.S.; Real Estate)
Financial Institutions
Barclays Capital (U.K. and U.S.; Banking and Principal Investments)
CIT Group Inc. (U.S.; Financial Services)
Goldman Sachs Bank (U.S.; Banking)
IPC Holdings (Bermuda; Insurance)
J. Aron & Co. (U.S.; Financial Services)
Lehman Brothers (U.S.; Financial Services)
Morgan Stanley Senior Funding (U.S.; Financial Services)
PMI Group (U.S.; Insurance)
SunTrust Banks (U.S.; Financial Services)
Wells Fargo Foothill (U.S.; Banking)
Sponsors
Altor (Nordic; Private Equity)
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (Canada; Private Equity)
Goldman Sachs Credit Partners (U.S. and U.K.; Financial Services and Principal Investments)
J.C. Flowers & Co. (U.S.; Private Equity)
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Canada; Private Equity)
Rhône Capital (U.S.; Private Equity)
Versa Capital Management, formerly Chrysalis Capital Partners, L.P. (U.S.; Private Equity)
Whitehall Funds (U.S.; Investment Services)
Sovereigns
African Development Bank
Argentina
Brazil
China
Colombia
Ecuador
Finland
Germany
International Finance Corporation
Jamaica
Mexico
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Province of Manitoba
Province of New Brunswick
Province of Quebec
South Africa
State of Queensland
State of New South Wales
Venezuela