Corporate Finance Partner M. Shams Billah Joins Barnes & Thornburg to Lead Private Credit Team

NEW YORK – Barnes & Thornburg announced today that M. Shams Billah has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the Corporate Department. Billah will lead the firm’s Private Credit team and collaborate closely with the firm’s Private Funds and Asset Management practice.

Together with the recent addition of bankruptcy partner Gregory Plotko to the firm’s New York office, Billah will add significant leadership depth to the practice, which advises leading and early-stage asset managers across the spectrum of funds, finance, M&A and restructuring transactions. Billah joins from Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

“Few finance lawyers have Shams’ level of experience in representing both lenders and borrowers,” said David Gotlieb, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s Corporate Department. “We’re lucky to have his distinct perspective and depth of knowledge on sophisticated lender and borrower issues.”  

Billah focuses his practice on advising credit funds and other global asset managers on a wide variety of corporate and finance matters, as well as advising private equity firms and their portfolio companies in a range of traditional middle-market acquisition and financing transactions, including secured and unsecured direct lending transactions, syndicated loan facilities, rescue financings and bond financing strategies. He also has significant experience in connection with debt restructurings, distress-to-own debt investments, liability management transactions, debtor-in-possession financings and exit financings. Billah’s industry experience includes healthcare, media, software, technology, restaurants and other franchised business models, aviation, and manufacturing.

“Our New York office has seen an exciting amount of growth in the first half of this year,” said Robert Boller, partner-in-charge of Barnes & Thornburg’s New York office. “Shams’ experience makes him a valuable addition to our leading Private Funds and Asset Management practice, and we’re looking forward to the work he and the Private Credit team will do on behalf of our clients.”

“This is a unique opportunity to be part of a stellar team that is well-positioned as a national resource for both early stage fund managers and sophisticated lenders deploying capital in the credit and alternative capital spaces,” said Billah. “I look forward to leading the Private Credit team and working alongside the firm’s top-notch Private Funds and Asset Management practice. Our clients will need guidance to implement the creative capital solutions that are increasingly necessary in today’s dislocated markets. In times of disruptions like these, sophisticated funds, investors, sponsors, financial institutions, and companies will benefit from the value proposition offered by the Barnes & Thornburg platform.”

Billah earned his B.A. in economics from George Washington University and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude. 

Barnes & Thornburg’s Private Funds and Asset Management group provides investment managers and investors with guidance on fund formation and structuring, private transactions, financings, disputes, and regulatory enforcement matters. The firm’s clients range from startup advisers to some of the largest and most sophisticated fund managers and institutional investors in the world.

With more than 800 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Atlanta, Boston, California, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, South Florida, Texas, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.