The Deal Honors Dechert as Financial Services Law Firm of the Year

Dechert LLP has been named “Financial Services Law Firm of the Year” by leading finance publication The Deal in its Middle Market Awards 2020, which were established to recognize innovative middle-market transactions exercising the most significant impact on the deal economy.

A Dechert transaction – the US$490 million sale of CoreVest American Finance Lender by Fortress Investment Group to Redwood Trust, a mid-market real estate investment trust – was also named “Financial Services Deal of the Year”. Dechert represented the senior management team at CoreVest, a specialty finance company that provides private debt to residential real estate investors, in the complex cash-and-stock deal.

“Leading financial services clients through complex transactions lies at the heart of Dechert’s corporate service offering,” said Mark Thierfelder, chair of the firm’s corporate and securities group and its global private equity practice. “We are proud of our deep expertise in asset management, private equity and real estate and delighted that this award recognizes our preeminent position in financial services M&A.”

Dechert’s M&A and private equity teams advised on more than 45 transactions in the financial services sector in 2019, valued at over US$55 billion. Clients included private equity and hedge funds, public and private companies, global investment advisers, and registered funds investing in financial institutions, bank holding companies, and other companies that control banks.

Notable transactions included PPC Enterprises’ US$330 million sale of Viteos to Intertrust N.V., in which Dechert advised Viteos, a technology-driven provider of middle-office services for the alternative asset management industry. Dechert teams also advised Alcentra Capital Corporation, a middle-market business development company, in its US$142 million acquisition by Crescent Capital BDC, and acted as U.S. and English counsel for Olivier Sarkozy’s Further Global Capital Management in its US$131.8 million take-private of The Global Benefits Group, a provider of international benefits insurance globally across 120 jurisdictions.

Six Dechert transactions were also named as finalists in other categories:

• Fortress’s sale of CoreVest was named as finalist for “Deal of the Year”, as was the US$150 million acquisition by Fortune Media Group Holdings Limited, wholly owned by Thai investor Chatchaval Jiaravanon, of Fortune Media Brand, owner of the venerable Fortune magazine, from Meredith Corporation;
• One Equity Partners’ sale of Anvil International to Smith-Cooper International and PPC’s sale of Viteos to Intertrust were finalists for “Private Equity Deal of the Year”;
• Alcentra’s acquisition by Crescent Capital was a finalist for “Financial Services Deal of the Year”;
• the acquisition of Fortune Media Brand by Chatchaval Jiaravanon’s Fortune Media Group Holdings Limited was a finalist for “TMT Deal of the Year”.

Winners in all categories were announced in a special awards edition of Deal Maker Quarterly on July 31.

About Dechert 

Dechert is a leading global law firm with 26 offices around the world. We advise on matters and transactions of the greatest complexity, bringing energy, creativity and efficient management of legal issues to deliver commercial and practical advice for clients.