Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s structured finance practice is interdisciplinary, drawing on the expertise of lawyers in the areas of banking, corporate finance and securities law, secured transactions, tax, bankruptcy and banking regulation.  The partners who practice in this area have available to them partners specializing in tax, ERISA, bankruptcy, bank regulatory and intellectual property practice areas to assist in the structuring and execution of complex structured transactions.  The Firm has been involved since the inception of the structured finance market in the structuring and documentation of a broad range of transactions in this area, including financing structures utilizing arbitrage arrangements, trade accounts receivable, credit card receivables, intellectual property, retail and dealer floor plan automobile loans, real estate assets, commercial bank loans, leveraged credits, government obligations, future receivables, cell towers, commercial aircraft leases, rental car cash flows, franchise receivables, collateralized debt obligations, synthetic collateralized debt obligations and other financial assets.

The Firm’s practice in the area has evolved in the forefront of the structured finance market.  Because of the depth of its expertise, the Firm frequently is called upon by investment and commercial banks to develop and document new products and structures.  The Firm has participated in structured transactions which were among the first involving asset-backed commercial paper, bank credit card receivables, private label credit card receivables, intellectual property, wholesale automobile dealer floor plan loans, heavy equipment sales receivables, insurance premium loan receivables, trade receivable backed preferred stock, the public offering of asset-backed securities by the U.S. subsidiary of a foreign corporation, debtor-in-possession asset backed financing, securitization in the international capital markets, including future flow transactions and assets sourced in emerging markets catastrophe bonds, and synthetic risk linked securities.  The Firm has also assisted in the organization of special purpose entities to serve as conduits for the issuance of asset-backed securities.

Clients in the structured finance area include issuers (including in connection with investments made by the Firm’s private equity clients in portfolio companies) and investment and commercial banks.