• Century City
    • Stephen Scharf
      • 1999 Avenue of the Stars, 7th Floor
        Los Angeles, CA, 90067
        Phone: +1-310-246-6813
        Fax: +1-310-246-6779
  • Hong Kong
    • Mark Fairbairn
      • 31st Floor, AIA Central
        1 Connaught Road Central
        Hong Kong
        Phone: +852-3512-2385
        Fax: +852-2522-1760
    • Colin Law
      • 31st Floor, AIA Central
        1 Connaught Road Central
        Hong Kong
        Phone: +852-3512-2388
        Fax: +852-2522-1760
  • Los Angeles
    • Thomas W. Baxter
      • 400 South Hope Street
        Los Angeles, CA, 90071
        Phone: +1-213-430-6570
        Fax: +1-213-430-6407
    • Joe Kim
      • 400 South Hope Street
        Los Angeles, CA, 90071
        Phone: +1-213-430-6511
        Fax: +1-213-430-6407
  • New York
    • Gregory Ezring
      • Times Square Tower
        7 Times Square
        New York, NY, 10036
        Phone: +1-212-326-2143
        Fax: +1-212-326-2061
    • Todd Triller
      • Times Square Tower
        7 Times Square
        New York, NY, 10036
        Phone: +1-212-326-2253
        Fax: +1-212-326-2061
  • San Francisco
    • Peter Healy
      • Two Embarcadero Center, 28th Floor
        San Francisco, CA, 94111-3823
        Phone: +1-415-984-8833
        Fax: +1-415-984-8701
    • Christopher W. Kirkham
      • Two Embarcadero Center, 28th Floor
        San Francisco, CA, 94111-3823
        Phone: +1-415-984-8882
        Fax: +1-415-984-8701
  • Shanghai
    • Qiang Li
      • Plaza 66, Tower 1, 37th Floor
        1266 Nanjing Road West
        Shanghai, 200040
        Phone: +86-21-2307-7018
        Fax: +86-21-2307-7300
  • Singapore
    • Bertie Mehigan
      • 9 Raffles Place
        #22-01/02
        Republic Plaza 1
        Singapore, 048619
        Phone: +65-6593-1888
        Fax: +65 6593-1801
    • Huey Yann Thong
      • 9 Raffles Place
        #22-01/02
        Republic Plaza 1
        Singapore, 048619
        Phone: +65-6593-1828
        Fax: +65 6593-1801
PROFESSIONALS

  • American Ag Credit
    American Capital Strategies
    Apollo Management
    Bank of America
    CCMP Capital
    Citibank N.A.
    Credit Suisse
    Deutsche Bank
    TCW/Crescent Mezzanine
    TCW Energy & Infrastructure Group
    Western Digital

Corporate Finance

As worldwide financial markets become more complex, market players demand counseling reflecting the best blend of legal experience, market knowledge, practicality, and innovation. Our corporate finance lawyers can help assess the risks and identify the opportunities in financing and debt investing activities. Our corporate finance lawyers represent some of the largest and most sophisticated private equity firms, corporations, banks and investment funds, as borrowers and lenders, issuers and investors, in financing and debt investing transactions in the principal debt markets in the United States, Asia, and Europe. We also represent a range of borrowers and lenders in middle market leveraged acquisition and other financing transactions.

Each year, teams of O’Melveny lawyers around the globe handle multiple buy-side and sell-side acquisition transactions, leveraged finance transactions, minority investments, dividend recaps, strategic projects, and traditional recapitalizations on behalf of our clients. Our team of more than 40 seasoned lawyers across three continents has a proven track record of successfully structuring, negotiating, and closing complex financing transactions to meet those clients’ needs.

Key Facts

  • Chambers USA 2008 recognizes O’Melveny’s corporate practices in nine categories, commenting that “this firm’s reputation rests on its strength as counsel to private equity firms and its ability to draw on its national and international resources. In addition to its high-profile financial sponsors clientele, the firm is often found representing major lenders in large leveraged acquisition transactions, including the whole spectrum of complex financings including mezzanine, high-yield and securitizations…The firm is also able to draw upon its team of experienced bankruptcy lawyers in restructurings and bankruptcy-related financings.” O'Melveny additionally received the Chambers "Award of Excellence" in Media in two consecutive years for work that included our Corporate Finance transactions (2008 and 2009).
  • Chambers Asia 2008 comments, “the Hong Kong office acts as a nerve centre for the firm’s investment activities in Asia, although commentators note that the firm also enjoys a solid grounding in mainland China thanks to Beijing and Shanghai offices that ideally position it to advise private equity clients accessing the PRC market.” Chambers further applauds our Tokyo office, noting “the firm is extremely well regarded in the Japanese legal community. The Tokyo office has been active in the funds sphere for decades—focusing on private equity funds and advising clients on the full life-cycle of funds—from formation to exit.” Chambers recognizes our Asia practices in nine categories, including top-rank accolades in private equity buyouts and private equity venture capital (Asia practice) and tax (Japan practice).
  • In the private equity sphere, our London office “is distinguished for the quality of its ‘supplementary and complementary’ advice, as well as the mainstream funds guidance it can provide. High-profile transactions are the norm for a group ‘as qualified, commercial and experienced as this,’ and its ability to draw on resources from offices in Europe and the USA make this an attractive team to turn to.”
  • Global Competition Review’s ”Who’s Who Legal 70” (2008) recognizes O’Melveny’s corporate and financial practices.
  • GC California Preferred Counsel Poll (2008) awarded O’Melveny 2nd place in Corporate Finance.
  • O'Melveny received the International Financial Law Review: Private Equity Deal of the Year award in 2006 for its participation in the consortium bid of £10.3 billion/US$18.5 billion for BAA Plc, the world's largest airport operator. The award was shared with all the law firms that participated in advising the consortium. An O'Melveny-London team advised consortium member GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd., the Government of Singapore's private equity arm.
  • Legal 500 – United States (2008) recommends our US offices for finance: bank lending, and comments that O’Melveny “provides professional and smart” advice to an assortment of significant banks, corporates, and private equity firms; is “historically strong in relation to bank lending;” and has an “ability to handle the bread and butter mandates…[and] handle the more sophisticated and cross-border instructions.” We also are recommended as “very responsive, business-focused” for media, technology, and telecoms, and for private equity buyout-mega-deals.
  • Legal 500 – Asia Pacific (2008) recommends O’Melveny’s China offices for banking and finance; capital markets; corporate/M&A (top tier); private equity/venture capital (top tier); tax (top tier); technology, media, and telecommunications; the Hong Kong office for capital markets: debt and equity; corporate (including M&A); and the Tokyo office for banking and finance; corporate/M&A: international firms and joint ventures
  • PLC Which Lawyer? (2008) recognizes our US offices for: banking and finance; capital markets: debt and equity; our Los Angeles office as a leader in banking and finance; our China offices for corporate/M&A; private equity/venture capital; tax; our Hong Kong office for private equity/venture capital; banking and finance; and our Japan office for corporate /M&A work.

Industry Reach

  • Asset-Based Financings
  • Bridge Loans
  • Corporate Credit Facilities
  • Distressed Debt Investing
  • High Yield Bond Financings
  • Investment Credit Facilities
  • Letter of Credit Facilities
  • Leveraged Acquisition and Recapitalization Financings
  • Mezzanine Debt Financings
  • Private Placements
  • Senior Secured Credit Facilities
  • Subordination and Intercreditor Arrangements
  • Venture Debt Financing
  • Workouts and Restructurings

Practice Strengths

  • Asia
    • With offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo, we are active in financings throughout emerging Asia markets on behalf of US-based and non-US based clients. Our multicultural and multilingual approach makes us uniquely capable of fielding large and knowledgeable teams to handle a full range of financings throughout Asia. Our team brings decades of experience to complex structured finance, restructuring, distressed asset, private equity, and infrastructure transactions in the fast-growing Asia markets.   
    • Energy and Infrastructure Finance
      • Our energy and infrastructure finance lawyers represent financial institutions, investment funds, and project sponsors in complex financings. We handle a range of structures including more traditional project finance and mezzanine finance for infrastructure projects. For example, we recently represented Midway Investment and Development Company LLC in its winning US$2.5 billion bid to enter into a 99-year concession to operate Chicago Midway Airport. Our group also has deep experience in the power sector and is increasingly focused on renewable energy projects.
    • Entertainment Finance
      • Through our market-leading Entertainment and Media practice, we have represented both film studios and lenders in a wide variety of innovative and sophisticated entertainment financing transactions, including structured studio financings and structured film slate financing deals. Our experience in structured slate-financing deals is unmatched. For example, we represented Legendary Pictures Funding in its approx. US$1 billion recapitalization and expanded co-financing agreement with Warner Bros; The Weinstein company in its US$1.2 billion securitization to make and distribute films; Dark Castle Entertainment in its ground-breaking US$240 million structured financing; The Walt Disney Company in its multi-picture slate financing and creation of Magic Films II, LLC; and Sony Pictures Entertainment in its multiple slate co-financing deals with Relativity Media.
    • Lender Representation
      • Our corporate finance group has long been a leader in representing lenders and investors as providers of funding in lending and debt investing transactions. Chambers Global 2008 referred to us as a “historically renowned banking powerhouse” that offers an “impressive stable of attorneys, responsive to clients’ needs.” Our lender and debt investor clients range from banks and other traditional institutional lenders in large scale cash flow and asset-based syndicated “bank market” financings to mezzanine and other specialized investment funds providing leveraged acquisition financing, making distressed debt investments and engaging in other “special situation” lending.
    • Private Equity Finance
      • We provide a full range of advice and representation on finance matters to private equity firms and their portfolio companies. We provide a “one-stop shop” for all their financing transactions, including bank market, mezzanine and high yield bond financings for leveraged acquisitions, as well as the direct financing needs of the private equity funds themselves. We also handle debt investment transactions by private equity and other investment funds. Our acquisition financing representations range from sophisticated bank market credit facilities and multi-tranche high yield bond issuances for large scale leveraged acquisitions by major private equity sponsors to financings provided by commercial finance companies and other middle market senior and mezzanine lenders for private equity firms focused on the middle market. In all our acquisition financing transactions, we work as an integrated team with our mergers and acquisitions lawyers on the transactions.

    Apollo Management Trust Company of the West (TCW) Leading Global Investment Bank