Law360 honored Dentons’ Structured Finance group, also known as our US Capital Markets practice, as Practice Group of the Year for the second straight year. This prestigious award highlights the top legal practices that helped guide clients in record-breaking, complex and innovative matters in 2022.

Our US Capital Markets practice continues to distinguish itself through the support of our A-list roster of clients, who have entrusted our lawyers with their most sophisticated, complex and first-of-a-kind structured finance transactions for over 30 years. As recognized by Law360, those achievements over the past year have included:

• A first-of-its-kind securitization of senior secured cost recovery bonds for a Texas electric cooperative and its four member coops to minimize and recover costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. Our firm’s representation included legislative efforts to enact a Texas law authorizing securitization financing by electric coops.
• A US$100 million novel financing facility for Wander.com, a FinTech company specializing in luxury high end rental properties.
• A US$180 million securitization of home equity investment agreements (HEAs) for Saluda Grade and its affiliate Unlock Technologies. The securitization is one of only a handful of securitizations in the market to date for this type of shared appreciation product, which is structured as a novel forward sale contract that enables homeowners to access the equity in their homes.
• The first securitization of residential home loans originated and sponsored by a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). As an ESG offering, the securitization was designated as a social bond by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), with the majority of loans within the securitization made to borrowers who were Black, Latino, or low-income or who lived in low-income communities.
• A milestone securitization of residential mortgage loans secured by properties in Panama and supported only by internal credit enhancement, a representation made possible due to the strength of Dentons’ global platform.

With over 70 structured finance lawyers, Dentons has stood at the forefront of structured finance for three decades. In 2022, we advised on more than 145 asset-backed transactions in the US, totaling over US$53 billion. Dentons leads in the finance and securitization of real estate assets, including triple net-lease commercial real estate, single family rental properties, mortgage servicing rights and residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities. We are the “go-to” firm for triple-net lease securitizations, and our prowess extends to emerging areas such as home equity investment contracts and investor loans.

We are also called upon to help clients navigate first-of-its-kind transactions and novel asset classes—in the past year advising on structured finance transactions involving student loans, medical lien receivables, litigation funding receivables, music royalty payments and whole business transactions. Most recently, we have been advising clients on novel warehouse liquidity securitizations backed by a wide range of asset types, including consumer loans, student loans, whole business loans and early buy-out loans.

Click here to view Law360’s profile article on Dentons’ Structured Finance group.

About Dentons

Across over 80 countries, Dentons helps you grow, protect, operate and finance your organization by providing uniquely global and deeply local legal solutions. Polycentric, purpose-driven and committed to inclusion, diversity, equity and sustainability, we focus on what matters most to you. www.dentons.com