Witold Balaban > Latham & Watkins LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Latham & Watkins LLP Offices

1271 Avenue of the Americas
NEW YORK
NY 10020
United States
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Witold Balaban

Position
Witold Balaban is recognized by leading global financial institution clients for his knowledge of the equity markets and the various financial products developed over the last couple of decades to enable corporate clients to restructure their balance sheets and to finance, monetize, and/or hedge large concentrated equity positions. Witold’s market knowledge and his technical product experience makes him the go-to person for structuring complex and first-of-its-kind equity-linked transactions spanning a number of jurisdictions.
Witold advises clients on financing strategies relating to concentrated equity positions and on balance sheet restructuring transactions, including:
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- Convertible and exchangeable bond offerings (both optional and mandatory, including trust-issued mandatory exchangeables) and related call spread overlays
- Convertible bond exchanges and related call spread unwinds
- Structured margin loans
- Various other equity-based financing, hedging, and monetization transactions, such as funded collars, variable prepaid forwards, covered calls, and combinations of the foregoing
- Fixed and variable share forward sales and related equity offerings, including registered and Rule 144 exempt block sales and at-the-market (ATM) offerings
- Structured issuer share repurchase transactions
Witold has held a number of leadership roles at the firm, including as former Global Co-Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Financial Institutions Industry Group. He is also the former Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets Practice. In this role, Witold focused on building and marketing Latham’s unique global capital markets offering that provides the firm’s global financial institution clients with integrated, top-tier financial regulatory coverage spanning the US, the UK, the EU, and Asia.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
(Hall of Fame)The derivatives and structured products department at Latham & Watkins LLP is a strong choice for clients requiring expertise in the full gamut of OTC, futures, options, swaps, and other exchange-traded derivative contracts, along with considerable international expertise in derivative regulations. The team is The team’s strength in equity-linked products and OTC derivatives is complemented by a strong track record in the fintech and digital asset space, including cryptocurrency, digital assets, and blockchain products. The team is headed by its New York-based partners, which includes Yvette Valdez, who is well-regarded for her expertise in crypto derivatives, complex digital assets, and distributed ledger technology. Rafal Gawlowski is a key member of the team for unconventional derivative products, including accelerated forwards, call spread overlays, and various transactions linked to the equity market . Witold Balaban
includes JP Morgan, UBS, Goldman Sachs as others among his portfolio of clients for his expertise in the OTC derivatives market. Doug Yatter is a point of contact for contentious matters and investigations requiring expertise in CFTC regulation, while Courtenay Myers Lima is experienced in note issuance programs, commercial paper and initial public offerings. Reza Mojtabaee-Zamani and Catherine Lee are also key members of the team.
Lawyer Rankings
- Hall of Fame United States > Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Structured finance: derivatives and structured products United States > Finance
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Insurance > Advice to policyholders
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Commercial lending: Advice to bank lenders
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Real estate > Land use/zoning
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Antitrust > Merger control
- International trade and national security > National Security
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Finance > Project finance
- Real estate > Real estate
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism
- Industry focus > Sport
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
Firm Rankings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Industry focus > Education
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Government > Government contracts
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Healthcare > Health insurers
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Finance > Commercial lending > Advice to direct lenders/private credit
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense