We are delighted to announce the arrival of partners Ronald Lovelace, Patrick Yingling, Jared Zajac and Joseph Polonsky, substantially enhancing the firm’s leveraged finance, private credit and special situations capabilities. The team joins from King & Spalding and will be resident in our Charlotte office.

This represents another step – along with the recent hire of financial restructuring partner Mike Rupe and the addition of Matthew Smith and Bevis Metcalfe in London – in building out a market-leading middle-market leveraged finance, private credit and special situations practice. The new team will expand the firm’s ability to provide counsel on creditor-side restructuring and special situations work and will expand our existing capabilities in, among other areas, asset based lending, warehouse finance and NAV lending.

Ron joins the firm as Head of Leveraged Finance. He focuses on leveraged finance and other syndicated lending transactions, with significant middle-market acquisition finance and robust workout and special situations experience. He is recognized as a leading finance lawyer in North Carolina by Chambers USA, which describes his “strong reputation for his handling of acquisition finance, working capital finance and wider asset-based lending transactions on behalf of lenders and borrowers [with] additional expertise in restructuring and workout matters.”

Patrick focuses on leveraged finance and other syndicated lending transactions. He advises financial institutions, other lenders and borrowers on a wide range of financing transactions, including syndicated credit facilities on both a leveraged and investment-grade basis, first-lien/second-lien arrangements, acquisition financings, recapitalizations and cross-border facilities.

Jared represents financial institutions, investment funds, lenders, and borrowers in leveraged finance, acquisition financings, first- and second-lien financings, syndicated credit facilities, and debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financings. He also has an extensive financial restructuring background, having spent a number of years at Proskauer Rose advising on bankruptcy and restructuring engagements, with particular experience advising on DIP financings.

Joey advises banks, private credit funds and other financial institutions that provide companies with the liquidity necessary to make acquisitions, refinance existing debt, make dividends to equity holders, and restructure their balance sheets. He works closely with public companies, large-cap companies, sponsor-backed companies and privately held companies on how to structure complicated financings and debt & equity restructurings, including for first-lien and second-lien financings, asset-backed financings, unitranche financings, FILO financings, unsecured financings, and DIP financings.