Attorney Referral List

Securitization: General

Thelen LLP's securitization practice is an important component of our full-service coast-to-coast business and finance practice.

Our lawyers have experience representing virtually every type of client involved in asset-backed securities transactions, including banks, commercial paper conduits, underwriters, initial purchasers, issuers, and even a rating agency. Our experience ranges from traditional assets (such as mortgages and equipment, auto, and other types of receivables and leases) to esoteric assets arising from the utility, intellectual property, sports, and energy industries.

We are also familiar with the complex intercreditor, participation, and mezzanine loan structures that accompany many modern securitizations.

Our securitization lawyers thoroughly understand the bankruptcy, UCC, securities law, and other fundamental underpinnings of structured finance, and as a result work closely with investment banks, issuers, and others to develop new products, in addition to supporting their more traditional products.

Thelen played a pioneering role in developing and/or structuring:

  • models for the securitization of several billion dollars of utility stranded costs, including assisting in the drafting of legislation in numerous states to facilitate the securitization of such recoverable costs;
  • the first-of-its-kind ring fencing securitization involving the securitization of utility transmission and distribution revenues;
  • a variety of innovative royalty-based music, entertainment, and intellectual property securitizations, including completion of high-profile transactions in the music and fashion worlds;
  • the first securitizations of sports receivables in connection with sports arena financings;
  • California ratings criteria for a national rating agency in connection with securitization of California's portion of the national tobacco litigation settlement; and
  • ABCP facilities secured by certificates representing beneficial interests in vehicle titling trusts.

For the foregoing reasons, we believe ourselves to be an excellent choice for companies and banks desiring assistance with innovative structures. We also believe ourselves to be an excellent choice for companies who wish to include securitization as one component of a broader based financing strategy that includes more traditional equity, debt, and leasing components.

Thelen has a long tradition of representing companies in a broad range of capital-intensive industries, including regulated utilities, energy, automotive, telecommunications, manufacturing, construction, and real estate.

Thus, we bring a wealth of regulatory and other industry-specific experience to our securitization representation that may not be available from law firms whose focus is limited to financial institutions.

To learn more about Thelen's Securitization practice, please contact the following:

Robert Reger
New York
212 603 2204
rreger@thelen.com

Mahendra Churaman
New York
212-603-8971
mchuraman@thelen.com

Ruth Strauss
San Francisco
415 369 7423
rstrauss@thelen.com