Richard Pugh > Dechert LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Dechert LLP‘s practice predominantly concentrates on the lender-side, but extends to acting for these lender clients in their capacity as borrower, or seller, in back-leverage arrangements. Department head Aparna Sehgal leads on loan-on-loans and repurchase facilities, and routinely represents the interests of whole loan and senior lenders, mezzanine debt providers, and both back-leverage counterparties. John McGrath advises banks and buy-side parties on performing and non-performing financial products, often involving enforcement or restructuring of derivatives and securitisations. Richard Pugh is active on commercial mortgage-backed securitisations.

Dechert LLP has a large global finance practice, for which securitisation is a key source of work. Head of structured finance and real estate Aparna Sehgal oversees the London office’s securitisation work, for which John McGrath and Richard Pugh are the standout partners. Noteworthy new additions to the team include Aaron Scott, a structured finance and securitisation specialist who heads up the firm’s CLO offering, where he is assisted by counsel Glenn Weston and associate Rory O’Connor. Consequently, the firm has seen growth in CLO transactions and repo securitisations, though it also continued to advise on a wide variety of structures. McGrath and Weston acted for Palmer Square Europe Capital Management LLC in the establishment of a warehouse financing facility, and the issuance of €503m in CLO notes backed by a portfolio of primarily senior secured loans, senior secured bonds, unsecured senior loans, second lien loans, mezzanine obligations and high yield bonds. They also assisted the same client with a €389m CLO deal that included the ‘uptier priming’ concept, which is a new feature in the CLO market.