‘Responsive, creative and professional’, say clients, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP ‘produces not only high-quality work, but also provides good counsel, judgement and perspective’. Led out of its New York headquarters but aided by a significant presence in Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as an all-encompassing international network, this ‘accessible and personable’ team is known for its ability to resource big-ticket corporate finance transactions, often with a significant cross-border component.

Leveraging off a blue-ribbon array of corporates as a result of the firm’s world-class M&A department, the practice is best known for its borrower practice, where it is instructed in significant acquisition finance transactions, in addition to working capital financings and asset-based loans.

‘Best of class’, it recently represented CME Group on a $2.7bn financing to facilitate its acquisition of NYMEX and advised VeraSun Energy in relation to a $125m asset-based loan.

Displaying ‘the ability to tap into a broad skill set’, the team has been closely involved in Chapter 11 exit financings and distressed M&A transactions. For example, it recently advised Citigroup in its $2bn exit financing package for Solutia.