Blank Rome is acclaimed as, “excel[ing] in asset-based finance, leveraged lease transactions and securitizations.”
— Chambers USA
Commercial financing opportunities come in many shapes and sizes. However, the current tighter lending environment makes the commercial lending process particularly difficult to negotiate.
Whether you are a lender or a borrower, our commercial finance attorneys can guide you through the challenges of commercial lending and address your specific needs throughout the process. We handle the gamut of commercial lending transactions, including asset-based, mezzanine financing and cash flow lending deals, as well as syndicated lending transactions. We work to meet your deadlines and expectations while minimizing the risks.
Our attorneys regularly represent banks, commercial finance companies, leasing companies, merchant finance, private equity and venture capital firms, and other private and public lending institutions. We have commercial lending experience in all industries, with particular emphasis on healthcare, real estate, auto dealerships, maritime, and aviation.
How We Can Help
Asset-Based Finance
We represent borrowers, agents, and lenders in matters involving the structuring, preparing, and negotiating of documentation related to single-lender and syndicated asset-based financings used for working capital or to finance acquisitions, dividends, or recapitalizations. Our attorneys have written and lectured extensively on asset-based lending, including lecturing on the Uniform Commercial Code and its implications in asset-based lending.
Our team handles all types of asset-based lending transactions, including those involving discrete types of collateral (personal property, real property, or intellectual property); executory contracts; government contracts; agricultural products; collateral in multiple states or in other countries; borrowing base concepts; subordinated debt; intercreditor agreements; and “secret liens.”
Mezzanine Finance
We have extensive knowledge in representing mezzanine and other junior capital financing providers including second lien and Tranche B lenders. Our clients include banks; institutional lenders; private and public investment funds; specialty finance companies; issuers and underwriters in public and private offerings of debt, equity, convertible, and hybrid securities; and operating businesses making strategic investments or expanding into new geographic regions.
At every stage of the investment cycle, we’re adept at handling the respective nuances of each complex transaction. We combine our junior capital capabilities with an array of finance, equity, tax, and other business law concentrations into a fully integrated service group that is tailored to our clients’ needs.
Cash Flow Lending
Our commercial finance team represents commercial banks, mezzanine and second lien lenders, equity sponsors, and other institutional lenders and borrowers in cash flow financing transactions across various industries. Our lawyers are knowledgeable in the syndicated loan market, having served as counsel to both lenders and borrowers, allowing us to advise clients on the loan structure and documentation and assist in all phases of a syndicated transaction.
What Sets Us Apart
- Chambers USA 2024 has ranked our firm Band 1 for Banking & Finance in Philadelphia (PA) and Surrounds.
- Our team includes board members of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys and two elected fellows of the Board of Regents of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.
- Our practice group members frequently lecture to organizations such as the Mortgage Bankers Association, Certified Financial Association, and Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys on legal issues affecting the financial services industry.
- Our attorneys frequently write for well-respected journals such as the ABF Journal and Financial Fraud Law Report and have authored industry guides including The CLO Manager’s Handbook.
- Ranked Tier 1 in 2021 U.S. News & World Report–Best Lawyers® (Woodward/White, Inc.) for Banking and Finance Law (national and Philadelphia) and Equipment Finance Law (Philadelphia). Also highly ranked nationally for Equipment Finance Law and regionally in Washington, D.C., for Banking and Finance Law.
- Blank Rome has been recognized as the “2016 Banking & Finance Law Firm of the Year in Pennsylvania” by Corporate INTL.