Credit: Phawat/AdobeStock How to Win at Restructuring in the Gilded Age of Private Credit
As private credit gobbles up market share from broadly syndicated loans, law firms not already steeped in direct lending are building multifaceted practices to avoid losing restructuring work to better-positioned peers.
August 19, 2024 at 10:00 AM
7 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
What You Need to Know
- Private credit now fuels more restructuring work than bank loans at many Big Law bankruptcy practices.
- The shift is pressuring firms to hire restructuring partners and finance partners with connections to direct lenders.
- While broadly syndicated loans are beginning a comeback, practitioners believe much of the market has shifted to direct lending for good.
Back when broadly syndicated bank loans reigned supreme in debt finance, law firms that lacked longstanding relationships with the banks writing the loans were at a disadvantage when it came time to restructure a deal.
If you weren't an experienced partner with connections to institutional lenders, entire swaths of the market could be out of reach, said Goulston & Storrs restructuring partner Timothy Carter. Recently, an in-house restructuring lawyer at a major bank told Carter, "I only have (outside counsel) my age that work for me," Carter recalled him saying. "That's 17 guys and they're all in their 60s."
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J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
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Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
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