Private Credit

Private lenders and borrowers looking for experience, value, and integrated solutions turn to Barnes & Thornburg’s Private Credit team to help structure, negotiate, and execute their most important transactions.  

Value Proposition

Our lawyers have deep market knowledge and familiarity with the full spectrum of debt products, and bring their skills and insights to bear on behalf of our credit fund and asset management clients. Our leanly staffed deal teams are efficient, nimble, and responsive; we take pride in our ability to deliver cost-effective solutions on tight timelines in a quickly evolving marketplace. We have a strong track record in the middle-market to lower-middle market space.

Breadth of Experience

We are deeply immersed in the credit markets, representing lenders, borrowers, and private equity sponsors at each phase of the life cycle of a financing, including initial extensions of credit, day-to-day administration of the credit, restructuring existing debt, addressing inter-creditor matters, and addressing enforcement issues and bankruptcy. 

Unlike most firms, each partner in the private credit practice works across the full range of debt products. Leveraging this breadth of experience leads to innovative solutions for our clients.  

Integrated Interface

The private credit practice operates as one team and integrates seamlessly with colleagues from our Tax, Corporate, and Private Funds and Asset Management practices to meet clients’ investment objectives. As a firm, we provide comprehensive services to investors and borrowers, including forming investment and lending vehicles; capital deployment and investment transactions; regulatory and compliance matters; investment-related litigation; and debt trading documentation. 

In addition, through collaboration with our Finance, Insolvency and Restructuring group, we provide strategic counsel to guide clients through complex in and out-of-court restructurings, distress-to-own debt investments, liability management transactions, debtor-in-possession financings, and exit financings.

Range of Abilities

We work across the credit spectrum, from acquisition financings to recapitalizations to restructurings and distressed situations, including the following types of transactions:

• First lien credit facilities
• Unitranche credit facilities
• Cash flow and ABL revolving facilities
• Second lien term loans and notes
• Mezzanine opco notes
• Holdco notes
• Convertible notes
• Preferred equity
• Warrants
• Equity kickers

Our Private Credit practice operates across virtually all major industries, including healthcare, media and entertainment, software, technology, restaurants and other franchised business models, aviation, manufacturing, business services, e-commerce, energy, financial services, real estate and telecommunications.

We are commercial, responsive and solutions-oriented. Clients look to us for insightful guidance in complex transactions.