Practice Areas
Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets
Corporate
Corporate Finance
FinTech
Financial Restructuring
Fund Finance
Admissions
North Carolina
Washington
New York
Education
University of Virginia School of Law - J.D.
Florida State University - B.S., Political Science
Florida State University - B.S., Sociology
Santa Fe College - A.A.
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Profile
Ryan B. Leverone is a special counsel in Cadwalader’s Finance Group and a member of Cadwalader’s Firm Committee. Ryan represents borrowers and investment banks, corporate and commercial banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, private lenders and other financial institutions in a variety of domestic and cross-border lending transactions, including syndicated, club and bilateral bank loans, NAV facilities, management fee facilities, commodities financings, asset-based lending, acquisition financings, shareholder financings, note purchases, repurchase financings, workouts and other complex transactions. Ryan also represents financial institutions in the purchase and sale of par and distressed debt and equity on the secondary loan and equity trading markets, including bespoke participation arrangements for fund finance and NAV lending transactions. Ryan regularly advises financial institutions on sanctions, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering issues related to financing transactions.
Ryan also focuses on emerging technologies impacting financing transactions and law practice, including smart contracts, blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI-powered contract analysis, document automation and automated workflow management. Ryan has previously served as in-house corporate counsel to Amazon Web Services, Inc., where he advised on such projects and a variety of technology transactions and complex business initiatives.
Ryan was included in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for his work in Banking and Finance Law.
Ryan received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was the Executive Editor of the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. He holds a B.S. in Political Science and a B.S. in Sociology, both from Florida State University, as well as an A.A. from Santa Fe College.
Experience
Corporate Finance
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in multiple refinancings ($4.050 billion, $4.425 billion and $4.54 billion) of a syndicated senior secured uncommitted borrowing base credit facility for one of the largest physical commodities trading groups in the world and the largest exporter of U.S. crude
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $150 million bilateral senior secured unitranche-style hybrid commodities and acquisition financing for a domestic private equity-backed wholesale fuel distribution and retail convenience store business
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $65 million club senior secured term facility for an ammonia terminal operator engaged in the marketing, trading, distribution and transportation of a wide variety of commodity products
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $200 million club senior secured term facility for a petroleum storage, distribution and wholesale company
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in an agency transfer, syndication and refinancing of a $225 million club senior secured committed and uncommitted borrowing base credit facility for a merchant of North American natural gas and power products
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a refinancing of a $450 million club senior secured committed and uncommitted borrowing base credit facility for a merchant of North American natural gas and power products
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in multiple refinancings ($350 million and $650 million) of a club senior secured committed and uncommitted borrowing base credit facility for the petroleum and petroleum product subsidiaries of a leading North American chain of convenience stores, travel centers and fueling centers
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $141 million senior secured uncommitted club credit facility for a midstream oil and gas pipeline developer and operator
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in refinancings of an aggregate $250 million parallel club senior secured committed revolving credit facilities for an airline ($75 million) and its subsidiary jet fuel refiner ($175 million)
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in multiple refinancings ($100 million and $175 million) of a club senior secured committed and uncommitted revolving credit facility for a startup merchant of North American natural gas and power products
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $100 million uncommitted syndicated senior secured credit facility for a startup agriculture technology platform and e-commerce network
- Represented a company in the securities finance industry, as borrower, in a $40 million senior secured note issuance leveraged to finance the acquisition of a fintech software company
- Represented a global investment management firm and activist fund, as lender, in a $40 million non-dilutive subordinated revolving arms-length shareholder credit facility for its portfolio company, a provider of small business loans
- Represented a private holding company and its portfolio company, a clothing manufacturer, as borrower, in a $13 million first-lien/second-lien financing for the purchase of certain 363 sale assets
Net Asset Value (NAV) & Other Secondaries Finance
- Represented a leading alternative investment manager, as arranger, in a $30 million senior secured delayed draw term loan NAV credit facility secured primarily by management fees owed to an alternative investment manager
- Represented a specialty finance company, as administrative agent, in a $201 million senior secured life insurance premium financing for an alternative investment manager, including term and revolving credit facilities and bankruptcy-remote structuring
- Represented a leading alternative investment manager, as arranger, in a $50 million senior secured revolving NAV credit facility to a hospitality investment firm
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $1 million NAV-based senior secured loan to a secondary private equity fund
Distressed Lending & Financial Restructuring
- Represented the largest minority shareholder of a distressed publicly traded South American airline in a $50 million strategic shareholder bridge financing
- Represented a private holding company and its portfolio company, a leading bus line operator, in a $155 million Chapter 11 exit financing
- Represented a multinational bank, as administrative agent, in a $60.6 million bilateral senior secured out-of-court debt workout for a private equity-backed company
Loan Participations & Debt Trading
- Represented various financial institutions and hedge funds, as buyer and seller, in the negotiation and settlement of hundreds of separate secondary market distressed debt and equity trades with an aggregate value of over $1.3 billion
- Represented various financial institutions in bespoke purchases and sales of loan participation interests, including master participation arrangements
- Represented a multinational bank, as seller, in the sale of a $25 million participation interest in a secured note issuance
Season & Sell Facilities
- Represented the private lending business of an insurance company, as originator, in a $300 million commercial real estate loan “season and sell” facility for a global alternative investment manager
Special Projects & Advisory
- Represented a multinational bank in connection with the novel application of artificial intelligence and machine learning software to assist with legacy contract review and analysis in connection with industry-wide transition away from LIBOR
- Represented the commercial and investment banking business of a major U.S. bank in connection with the industry-wide transition away from LIBOR
- Represented the cloud consulting business of a major U.S. technology company in connection with a pilot and global rollout of a platform to purchase project-based contractors from various third-party cloud consultancies*
Regulatory
- Represented various private equity fund lenders as specialist regulatory counsel with respect to sanctions, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering compliance and risk management in private equity fund finance and other transactions
- Represented a company entering the commercial lending market in California in connection with its application to the California Department of Business Oversight for a Finance Lender license
Other Transactions
- Represented a multinational bank in a $370.5 million repurchase financing, structured as a participation, for a real estate developer backed by certain senior mortgage and mezzanine loans
- Represented a multinational bank in a $125 million repurchase financing, structured as a participation, for the asset management business of a global insurance company backed by certain senior mortgage loans and participations
- Represented a multinational bank in a $150 million repurchase financing for a real estate investment firm backed by certain performing and non-performing mortgage and mezzanine loans and participations
- Represented a multinational bank in a $250 million repurchase financing for a real estate investment firm backed by certain senior mortgage loans
- Represented the cloud consulting business of a major U.S. technology company in a $6 million sale of cloud computing professional services to a multinational enterprise software company*
- Represented the cloud consulting business of a major U.S. technology company in a master services agreement with a technology consulting company*
- Represented the cloud consulting business of a major U.S. technology company in a $1.7 million sale of cloud computing professional services to a multinational investment bank*
*Certain representations occurred outside of Ryan’s association with Cadwalader.
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