Acquisition finance

Sidley Austin LLP

Client Satisfaction

Drawing upon a ‘great diversity of transaction experience across multiple asset classes and throughout the capital structure’, Sidley Austin LLP provides ’super commercial and very responsive’ advice to a borrower-focused client base engaged in new money deals as well as refinancing work for portfolio companies. James Crooks ‘brings a huge amount of market insight and knowledge to every transaction’, ensuring that he is able to ’guide clients deftly through how and where to push on terms’. Bryan Robson, who is ‘renowned for his strategic thinking and keen business acumen’, co-heads the team alongside Crooks. The practice was recently bolstered by the arrival of Joseph Kimberling, Sam Hamilton and Jayanthi Sadanandan , who joined from Latham & Watkins.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'It is a great team that is super commercial and very responsive.'
'The team has a great diversity of transaction experience across multiple asset classes and throughout the capital structure.'
'James Crooks just knows where the market is and can guide clients deftly through how and where to push on terms, while not delaying execution timelines with unreasonable positions.'
'James Crooks is a leading finance lawyer; James brings a huge amount of market insight and knowledge to every transaction, with experience working across the capital structure.'
'Renowned for his strategic thinking and keen business acumen, Bryan Robson is a force to be reckoned with in the field of acquisition finance. His ability to foresee potential obstacles and devise innovative solutions sets them apart as a true industry leader. Known for his unparalleled dedication to client service, Bryan Robson consistently goes above and beyond to ensure client satisfaction.'

Key clients

Preservation Capital Partners
Patel Family Office
Omni Partners LLP
Atento SA
Swiss Re
Heather Global PLC
Lumanity Inc.
Paulson & Co. Inc.
Jervois Global Limited
Travelex Topco Limited
Hanseatic Broking Center GmbH
Oxford International Education Group
Recharge Industries
SME HCI Limited
ACPS Group
Ausrocel Group
DWS Group
Cheyne Capital

Work highlights

Advised Preservation Capital Partners and its portfolio company Hanseatic Broking Center GmbH with respect to €74m term facilities from credit fund Ares to capitalise the business and support future acquisitions and other strategic initiatives.
Advised Swiss Reinsurance Company in the second iteration of its stop-loss financing, which involved JP Morgan having made available a $500m senior secured loan facility due 2028 to Matterhorn Re Ltd, a Bermudan special purpose insurer and segregated accounts company affiliated to Swiss Re.
Advised Cheyne Capital in relation to the upsize of its existing €82m senior secured facilities advanced to Getronics in order to provide further bridge funding to Cheyne taking control of the group through the conversion of its convertible notes instruments.

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