Laura M. Watson

Laura Watson acts for a wide range of clients, including domestic and foreign banks and other financial institutions, investment funds, private equity sponsors, and corporate borrowers in a variety of complex domestic and international financing transactions. Clients turn to Laura to successfully structure, negotiate, and document a variety of secured and unsecured finance transactions. She counsels clients in their roles as borrower or lender (individually or as an agent) in bi-lateral and syndicated financing transactions.

The primary concentration of Laura’s practice is on subscription credit facilities, net asset value (NAV) facilities, hybrid facilities, private placements, and other fund finance matters. Clients also rely on Laura for her experience with acquisition financings and asset-based financings.

Agent/Lender Side Representation:

• Represented a private credit fund, as administrative agent, in connection with a $75,000,000 secured NAV term loan facility extended to several fund borrowers sponsored by a large private equity sponsor.
• Represented a private credit fund, as administrative agent, in connection with a $30,000,000 secured NAV term loan facility extended to a handful of multi-jurisdictional funds, as borrowers, that are sponsored by a leading private equity sponsor.
• Represented a major financial institution, as administrative agent, in connection with several, related multi-currency, secured subscription-backed revolving credit facilities extended to (1) a single-investor feeder fund in a total amount of $75,000,000, (2) another single-investor feeder fund in a total amount of $150,000,000, and (3) onshore and offshore master funds in a total amount of $20,000,000, which is increasable to up to $50,000,000 via an accordion feature. The master fund’s credit facility involved a cascading pledge from its feeder funds, including the feeder funds that were borrowers under the aforementioned separate credit facilities.
• Represented a major financial institution, as administrative agent, in connection with two related secured subscription-backed revolving credit facilities extended to (1) an offshore feeder fund in a total amount of $75,000,000 (increasable to up to $150,000,000 via an accordion), and (2) two offshore master funds in a total amount of $100,000,000 (increasable to up to $400,000,000 via an accordion).  The master funds’ credit facility involved a cascading pledge from various onshore and offshore feeder funds, including the feeder fund that was a borrower under the aforementioned separate credit facility.
• Represented a domestic bank, as administrative agent, in connection with a $25,000,000 NAV facility extended to a private equity fund that had reached the middle/late stage of its existence and already called the majority of its capital commitments.  Previously, we had advised the administrative agent in relation to a secured subscription-backed revolving credit facility for the fund at the beginning of its life.
• Represented a major financial institution, as administrative agent, in connection with a $540,000,000 revolving loan and a $180,000,000 term loan under a syndicated, unsecured credit facility extended to a large, privately-held company.  Various subsidiaries of the borrower guaranteed the loans. 

Borrower Side Representation:

• Represented the general partner of a number of private equity real-estate fund borrowers organized in various jurisdictions (e.g., Ontario, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Delaware) in connection with a $1.2 billion syndicated, secured revolving subscription-backed credit facility.  The credit facility included an accordion feature allowing the facility size to be increased to over $2 billion in total.
• Represented the general partner of multi-jurisdictional private equity funds in connection with a $650,000,000 syndicated, secured revolving subscription-backed credit facility to a master fund, which included a cascading pledge from various feeder funds and blocker funds.
• Represented the general partner of a private equity technology-focused fund, as borrower, in connection with a $70,000,000 syndicated, secured revolving subscription-backed credit facility. The credit facility included an accordion feature for an additional $30,000,000.
• Represented a leading real-estate fund, as issuer, in several private placements (in an aggregate amount of more than $775,500,000) of fixed-rate senior notes guaranteed by various affiliates.
• Represented a prominent real-estate fund, as issuer, in several private placements (in an aggregate amount of more than $1.3 billion) of floating and fixed-rate senior notes guaranteed by various affiliates.

• University of Saint Thomas, BA, summa cum laude
• The University of Chicago Law School, JD, with honors
  Managing Editor, The University of Chicago Law Review

• California
• Illinois