Sector Focus: Finance

With a rise in Private Credit and no signs of it unabating we are seeing demand for them to use Securitisation and also Leveraged Finance seems to be picking up although Trump tariffs have created a bit of uncertainty in the market which has caused some to reevaluate previous deal volumes forecasts with potentially a wait and see approach to the market.

I recently ran a LinkedIn poll as the Trump tariffs were announced asking: what will be the busiest practice area in banking and finance this year for law firms? The results follow:

Structured Finance: 47%

Leveraged Finance: 34%

Real Estate Finance: 5%

Project Finance: 5%

Other: 8%

These results very much reflect what seems to be happening in the market. Here is my take on the results and the market:

Structured Finance: seems to be busy as we are seeing a wider pool of clients such as insurance companies, pension funds, private equity, funds and infrastructure funds use securitisation for their particular financing needs

Leveraged Finance: remains busy due to plenty of refinancing activity and selective buyouts but lenders remain caution due to tighter credit conditions and uncertainty in pricing created by new macro conditions have not led to an influx of new money deals yet fuelling leverage finance.

Real Estate Finance: whilst seeing an uptick in activity the market remains caution due to valuation uncertainty caused by macroeconomic conditions investors and lenders remain cautious and reduced transaction volumes reduce the need for real estate financing.

Project Finance: is a safe and probably a bullet-proof practice area due to the importance of energy to fuel the world however there are significant challenges in project finance regarding longer lead times and funding challenges. We expect project finance to remain steadily busy over the next 10 years.