Amid rapid changes in the use of alternative lending structures across jurisdictions, global law firm Paul Hastings has ramped up its finance practice with a lateral hire.
William “Bill” Brady, who previously practiced law at Proskauer Rose, joins Paul Hastings as a partner in New York. Brady advises alternative lenders and investors, such as hedge funds, business development companies (BDCs), insurance companies, mezzanine funds, and second-lien funds, in refinancings, recapitalizations, and leveraged buyouts.
In a discussion with IFLR1000, Brady reflected on changes sweeping a market full of emboldened alternative lenders.
“As the market continues to evolve, I am seeing more and more alternative lenders doing deals with significant cross-border components, and more alternative lenders venturing into new jurisdictions. There are a number U.S. alternative lenders have now planted a flag overseas, and a number of foreign alternative lenders are actively looking to invest in deals in the U.S.,” Brady said.
According to Brady, the number of alternative lenders has reached an all-time high, and they have a great deal of private capital to put to use. He drew a contrast with the situation years ago, when alternative lenders tended to look solely at the junior capital piece of a deal.
“Today what you’re seeing is that alternative lenders have raised capital that allows more flexibility, meaning they can invest up and down the balance sheet, not necessarily in the junior piece of the deal. There are also number of alternative lenders who have capacity today to write very large checks, so you are seeing alternative lenders in places where historically you didn’t see them as much; writing meaningful checks in larger cap deals – first lien, second lien, mezzanine, and unitranche. All of these factors should make for a very robust alternative lender market,” Brady said.
Brady described his practice as focused not only on front-end origination, but also on workouts and restructurings.
“It’s an important practice point because when you go through a restructuring, it highlights for you what matters most on the front end of a deal and the most important things to negotiate for your client,” he added.