Mr. Herring regularly provides counsel to Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), private equity and mezzanine investment funds, business development companies (BDCs), and other commercial lenders and investors in the structuring, negotiation and documentation of their debt and equity portfolio investments and financings. The equity investments Mr. Herring works on include control buy-outs and non-control equity investments, as well as the subsequent disposition and realization of those investments. The debt investments Mr. Herring works on include senior and mezzanine financings, ranging from senior secured loans to second lien and secured mezzanine loans, to unsecured subordinated loans, to preferred stock, often with an add-on equity component in the form of a warrant or equity co-investment. Mr. Herring regularly counsels from both the investor and the company/borrower sides. Mr. Herring has extensive experience in the negotiation of intercreditor agreements, including those relating to second lien debt, mezzanine debt and secured mezzanine debt, and in the work-out, recapitalization and liquidation of troubled investments and financings.
Mr. Herring also regularly provides counsel to private equity and mezzanine investment funds and sponsors with respect to their fund formation, including the structuring of their fund terms and the organization and structure of their management companies and general partners. He has served as general counsel to various funds with respect to their ongoing administration and operation, in addition to handling their investment transactions. Mr. Herring has significant experience with the formation and administration of small business investment companies and with fundless sponsor groups making investments on a deal-by-deal basis.
Mr. Herring also has advised corporations and limited liability companies in a variety of commercial and corporate matters, including organizational and governance matters, shareholder and operating agreements, capital and debt structures, joint ventures, and various contractual matters related to their specific businesses and industries.
Mr. Herring currently serves as chair of the firm’s Private Investment practice group.