K&L Gates’ global Finance practice includes more than 100 lawyers in 24 offices across the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East who represent lenders and borrowers in an array of financing transactions. Our finance lawyers are located in key financial capitals and have a broad-based understanding of local laws, current market terms, and complex multijurisdictional financing transactions. We advise lenders, borrowers, guarantors, lessors, lessees, and issuers in the capital markets on all aspects of mainstream secured, unsecured, asset-based, cash flow, and other commercial lending and commercial real estate financing transactions. We counsel lenders and borrowers on sophisticated intercreditor arrangements and complex debt restructurings. Our team handles financings in almost every industry, including commodities, mining, manufacturing, distribution, media, telecommunications, entertainment, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and the service sector.
Lenders: We focus on structuring and documenting a transaction that protects the lender’s assets at risk in every manner possible or practicable. Our lawyers focus upon covenant protection and events of default, as well as the rights and remedies of secured lenders in respect to many different types of tangible and intangible collateral. We review structures to ensure that guarantors, if any, are properly inserted into the transaction structure and bolster the transaction with legally enforceable credit support. We structure and negotiate equity co-investments, warrants, and convertible notes. Additionally, our team works with local counsel in various jurisdictions to make certain that applicable local law is also followed in connection with assets to be secured or cashflows required to ensure timely repayment.
Borrowers and Issuers: Our experienced finance lawyers assist clients in understanding the myriad issues involved in the extension of credit and the various structural alternatives available to them in constructing a transaction. We maximize clients’ rights and simplify, to the extent possible, their reporting and compliance requirements through review and comments on relevant agreements. We explain the many legal issues that surround the extension of credit and ensure that the requirements of the credit documents do not impair clients’ abilities to perform and grow their businesses. Additionally, we help ensure clients obtain market favorable terms.
We represent lenders and borrowers in senior credit facilities, private placements, first lien/second lien and last out deals, subordinated debt issuances, and seller financings for dividend recapitalizations, public company acquisitions, and private equity-backed leveraged buyouts. These deals often involve multiple domestic and foreign jurisdictions, complex capital structures, and a variety of intercreditor arrangements.We structure, document, and negotiate mezzanine debt transactions, subordinated debt issuances, and structured loan participations. Our team assists clients with warrants, convertible notes, and equity coinvestments. We deal regularly with complex intercreditor and equity holder arrangements in these transactions and bring to our clients a keen market awareness of differing standards for debt and lien subordination terms.
We represent banks and other financial institutions in asset-based financing transactions ranging from traditional inventory, equipment, and receivables financings to more esoteric loans secured by bullion, secured loans, leases, securities and other investment property, tax obligations, natural resources, intellectual property, and governmental licenses.
We represent both domestic and international buyers and sellers of par and distressed commercial loans and a variety of types of claims in bankruptcy, including trade receivable and tax indemnity claims. Our experience extends to the derivative products generally related to the loan trading business, including total return swaps, loan only credit default swaps, and other related products.
We advise clients on synthetic lease transactions, sale/leasebacks, leveraged lease transactions, project financing, industrial revenue bonds, and other tax-exempt debt issuances. We handle securitizations involving the pooling of various types of debt and other assets and the sale of interests in the pools in the form of bonds, securities, and other financial instruments in capital markets across the globe.
We assist lenders and borrowers with bankruptcy, restructuring, and workout issues both in formal bankruptcy proceedings and out of court. We also advise on strategic acquisitions of troubled loans.
We handle the full spectrum of real property financing, ranging from straightforward bilateral and syndicated mortgage facilities to transactions involving highly complex vehicles, structures, and financing techniques. These include multiproperty, cross-collateralized, and cross-border financings, as well as traditional single-asset mortgage financings, real estate development, and commercial leasing.
We help clients realize the associated tax, financial, and balance sheet benefits of equipment leasing transactions. We represent lessors, lessees, and lenders in true leases, finance leases, leases intended as security devices, synthetic leasing arrangements, leveraged leases, tax-driven leases, and structured leasing transactions.
We represent the private wealth management and investment advisory arms of a number of banking institutions in financings for family offices, foundations, trusts, estates, and high net-worth individuals. These transactions often involve a wide range of collateral including marketable securities and other investment property, high-end real estate, closely held business interests, artwork, aircraft, luxury and collectible automobiles, pleasure craft, and other unique and specialized assets.
Many of our engagements involve financing for specialized assets and lending arrangements ranging from aircraft, rolling stock, and maritime assets; power generation facilities; municipal tax and utility liens to letters of credit and other credit enhancement facilities; and ESOP loans, factoring loans, and loan portfolio acquisitions.
We also advise financial institutions, commodity producers, trading companies, and governments in structuring and documenting commodity-linked financing transactions; risk management in credit, trading, and commodity-related investment transactions; and dispute resolution and recovery.
Our Islamic finance team offers services across the full spectrum of legal issues affecting businesses with a need in this area. Our work has included advising on Islamic-compliant bonds and the implications of an Islamic legal regime in contracts; Ijara leasing structures and real estate finance transactions; establishment of Islamic real estate funds and joint venture funds; and method patent counseling and filing patent applications relating to investing under Islamic law, among others.