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Matthew Smith is a partner in Cadwalader’s Leveraged Finance & Private Credit Group in London.
Matthew advises private equity sponsors, private credit funds, banks and corporate borrowers on leveraged and general finance transactions across a range of sectors. Matthew is widely recognised as a leading individual for private credit and direct lending transactions.
Matthew is ranked as a “Next Generation Partner” for Acquisition Finance by The Legal 500 UK 2020 and as a leading individual by Chambers UK.
- Chambers UK 2022 - “Matthew Smith is a highly experienced lawyer who is well plugged in to the latest market trends and able to negotiate strongly with when required." "Matthew has excellent experience and is a responsive, thoughtful and proactive partner.”
- Chambers UK 2021 - "He is highly responsive, always available and fully in the detail on all elements of documentation. He has a highly commercial approach and is very capable of putting himself in the shoes of both lenders and sponsors to arrive at a balanced outcome."
- Chambers UK 2020 "Matthew is a very strong lawyer with good attention to detail and a strong technical background. He is easy to work with and commercially sensible, an asset on any deal. He is regularly called upon to advise banks and funds on a wide range of acquisition and leveraged finance matters."
- Legal 500 UK 2020 - "The exceptionally strong Matthew Smith is commercial and technically strong" and "The ‘technically capable and commercial' Matthew Smith's broad-ranging expertise includes direct lending work …"
Matthew has advised clients on numerous significant matters, including the representation* of:
- Bridgepoint Credit and CVC Credit on the refinancing of Macquarie’s acquisition of Wavenet Group.
- Macquarie Principal Finance and Goldman Sachs on the unitranche refinancing of Dukes Education Group.
- Macquarie Principal Finance on its refinancing of EMK Capital-owned Reconomy.
- ICG on its forward funding of Europe's largest single-occupier logistics site for Jaguar Land Rover.
- Bridgepoint Credit and Investec Bank plc on the refinancing of CGE Partners and ICG plc's acquisition of Enhesa Group.
- EMK Capital and its portfolio investment Outright Games on certain working capital facilities.
- Citi as Financial Advisor on the GBP 6.5bn offer for Meggitt PLC by Parker-Hannifin Corporation.
- Rothschild and BofA Securities as Financial Advisors on the GBP 1.51bn offer for Sanne Group plc by Apex Group.
- NatWest and Rabobank on their refinancing of the UK-franchise business of Burger King.
- Ardian Private Debt on the unitranche financing of Synova Capital’s acquisition of Orbis Protect.
- Ardian Private Debt and Barings Private Debt on the financing aspects of Macquarie’s recommended cash offer for Premier Technical Services Group Plc.
- Ares Management Limited on the financing aspects of Macquarie and MML’s acquisition of ParkingEye.
- Muzinich Private Debt on the unitranche facilities made available to refinance August Private Equity’s acquisition of the Zenergi Group.
- Morgan Stanley as Financial Advisor on the GBP 3.8 billion offer for G4S by Allied Universal, a leading security services provider backed by Warburg Pincus and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
- UBS as Financial Advisor on the GBP 2.6 billion offer for Inmarsat Plc by a consortium including Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus, among others.
- The unitranche lender on the first out / last out unitranche facilities made available to support LDC's investment in Solid Solutions.
- Muzinich Private Debt on the unitranche refinancing of August Private Equity’s acquisition of Charterhouse Voice & Data Plc.
- Barings Private Debt on the unitranche financing package to support a confidential sponsor bid.
- Proventus Capital Partners III KB on its unitranche financing of Santa Fe Group Limited.
- HSBC and Barclays on the innovative multi-platform Coronovirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) refinancing of Ocean Outdoor Ltd.
- HSBC and Deutsche Bank in several capacities on the post-IPO facilities for Global Fashion Group.
- Bridgepoint and Wiggle on the financing aspects of Wiggle’s acquisition of Chain Reaction Cycles.
- ECI Partners on the financing of its acquisition of IT Lab.
- Livingbridge and the Company on the continuing debt financing arrangements for Exponent’s acquisition of the Enra Group.
- Exponent Private Equity on the financing aspects of its acquisition of Trainline.com.
*Certain representations occurred prior to Matthew's association with Cadwalader.
