Hogan Lovells Cadwalader

Formed by the merger of legacy firms Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader has built up a loyal roster of some of the most prolific lenders in the upper mid-market, including Ares and Barings. Paul Mullen has been pivotal to the firm’s success in the area and has been at the vanguard of the development of private credit as an asset class, helping to ensure that the firm generates mandates in novel new techniques, including its increased use in ARR financings and to finance UK take-private mandates. Jo Robinson and Francis Booth are also key contacts for this alternative lending work, with the ‘thoughtful and responsive’ Robinson particularly skilled at advising on unitranche and ARR facilities. The ’commercial and practical’ Penny Angell has a varied financing workflow that includes insurance-related acquisition finance mandates for lenders and borrowers. Formerly of legacy firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, the ‘approachable and highly responsive’ Matthew Smith and Smridhi Gulati are noted for their capabilities larger-cap space, adding value drawing upon additional leveraged finance strength from the US on transatlantic deals. Both Smith and Gulati are skilled at structuring transactions utilising debt throughout the capital structure, and as well as handling new money deals have both been busy of late advising on refinancings/repricings of leveraged assets. Bevis Metcalfe is particularly adept at implementing private credit solutions on hybrid capital deals.