Insights

New York – April 1, 2021: Crowell & Moring and Kibbe & Orbe have joined forces effective today to provide expanded service offerings to clients in the financial services industry.  Twenty-four lawyers from the storied financial law firm are now part of Crowell & Moring’s New York, London, and Washington, D.C. offices, including Jennifer Grady, managing partner and chair of the firm’s executive committee, who will co-chair Crowell & Moring’s Corporate practice; three founding partners, Jonathan Kibbe, William Orbe, and Michael D. Mann, and the managing partner of the London office, Andrew M. Martin.

Investment funds often need additional liquidity, particularly in a volatile market. If permitted under governing documents, they naturally try to leverage their investment portfolio. Finance providers, for their part, may hesitate when the portfolios consist of distressed loans, insolvency claims, high yield bonds and other illiquid financial assets. This note outlines structuring considerations and techniques for both sides in this situation.

Recent amendments to the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (DLLCA) should prompt lenders to take a closer look at their credit agreements and indentures and consider whether updates to those agreements are necessary. Effective August 1, 2018, a Delaware limited liability company (LLC) may divide itself into two or more LLCs and allocate the assets and liabilities of the dividing LLC among itself and/or the newly formed LLCs. This should be of concern to lenders because an allocation of assets by division may not violate the transfer and merger covenants in their loan agreements.

The promotion of renewable energy has been an important policy goal at the state and federal levels in recent years, and public support for solar energy in particular has driven a significant increase in installed solar capacity across the United States. There are numerous federal, state and local tax incentives which encourage consumers, businesses and utilities to increase renewable energy consumption, and solar developers offer attractive financing opportunities for consumers and businesses considering the installation of solar panels to reduce their electricity costs. More recently, solar developers themselves have begun to explore financing opportunities related to another solar incentive program, Solar Renewable Energy Certificates/Credits (“SRECs”), which can provide a valuable source of liquidity for developers and other owners of solar projects.