We advise our clients in financings for industries ranging from agriculture and entertainment to hospitality, real estate, and technology, and we work with virtually all types of financial transactions including bi-lateral and syndicated, employee stock option plan, leveraged, trade financings, and swaps.
We regularly work on transactions secured by personal and real property, including intellectual property, margin stock, and international assets. Our commercial finance lawyers help financial institutions restructure, work out and enforce debt and leasing financing at all levels of the capital structure, including asset-backed, bridge, Chapter 11-exit, hybrid instrument, mezzanine, private and public, and senior secured debt.
Our clients include:
- International and regional banks
- Insurance companies
- Investment funds
- Real estate investment funds
- Commercial finance companies
- Real estate finance companies
- Hedge funds
- Other commercial and consumer lenders
The current state of financial markets has put a premium on knowing and understanding market practices. Clients rely on us for creative, well-informed advice regarding structuring, negotiating and documenting virtually every type of loan product employed in domestic and international transactions. We regularly work on transactions secured by real and personal property and have particular expertise in dealing with transactions implicating laws applicable to intellectual property, real property, securities and other investment property. Many of these transactions involve negotiating the relationship among lenders and lending groups, including varying levels of subordinated debt, mezzanine debt, and unitranche financings. Our reputation is based on our understanding of how to achieve commercial goals within a constantly evolving legal environment.
We frequently work on traditional and non-traditional asset-based financings. Naturally, as a group within a premiere real estate firm, we have vast capabilities to address real estate issues arising in asset-based and other commercial structures.
Our commercial finance lawyers work closely with our litigators and bankruptcy attorneys both in the initial structuring of transactions and in restructurings, work out and enforcement of debt transactions.
Our attorneys have been recognized as preeminent in their fields by well-respected ranking services and directories, including Best Lawyers of America and Chambers USA.
EXPERIENCE
- National Bank. Represented a national bank, as administrative agent for a syndicate of three lenders, in the origination of financing secured by all of the personal property assets of the borrowers and seven agricultural properties. The facilities include five term loans, two revolving loans, swaps, swing line loans, and a letter of credit sub-facility, all of which were cross-guaranteed and cross-collateralized. The borrowers are four affiliated entities engaged in the growth of short cycle plants for sale to their nine retail garden centers. The financing was guaranteed by individuals and affiliated entities engaged in the operation of nurseries for wholesale plant marketing. The financing was used in part to redeem bonds issued to certain of the borrowers under trust indentures.
- National Bank. Represented a national bank in connection with a term loan to a dairy farmer. Proceeds of the term loan were used to pay off existing loans with other lenders and to provide additional funds for bond financing in the form of an irrevocable letter of credit. The issuer of the bonds is the state Economic Development Finance Authority.
- National Bank. Represented a national bank in connection with senior secured term loan to a non-profit corporation. The funds were used to purchase a medical clinic building and adjacent real property from a local healthcare district, and medical building and related real property adjacent to a medical center campus.
- National Bank. Represented a national bank in connection with multiple credit facilities provided to a government contractor that provides applied research under contracts with the Department of Defense. The client provided credit in order for the borrower to purchase the office building that has served as the borrower's headquarters for many years. A swap was also secured by the property, with various potential alternative structures to be offered. A term loan was provided to the borrower's employee share ownership plan, and the transaction also modified the terms of an existing revolving line of credit.
- National Bank. Represented a national bank in the origination of a revolving credit facility to a marketing company within the medical devices and pharmaceutical sectors. The borrower raised subordinated debt along with an equity contribution to acquire a competitor and to facilitate general working capital.
- National Bank. Represented a national bank in the extension of a loan used to purchase property and to facilitate construction. The property will be the new home of a designer and manufacturer of film, television and video production equipment.
- Private Bank. Represented a private bank in connection with two loans to a trustee of an irrevocable life insurance trust established by a high profile, high net worth individual residing in California. Each loan is secured by the life insurance policy and securities owned by the trustees.
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