Ranesh Ramanathan Interviewed on ‘Drinks With The Deal’ Podcast
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On the Drinks With The Deal podcast, Akin special situations & private credit practice co-head Ranesh Ramanathan had a wide-ranging conversation, covering his start in the legal industry, his move to in-house roles at Citigroup and Bain Capital, and his return to private practice at Akin.
On his transition back to private practice, the changes in the credit business he had seen at Bain by the time he left, the emerging need for practitioners for special situations deals beyond traditional private equity lawyers and debt lawyers, and the value of Akin’s mix of practices:
“We needed a new class of lawyers, in a sense, a special sits lawyer, somebody who can come into a deal that’s flexible because often deals start with one flavor and end in a different [one]. They start being a debt deal and end with some sort of hybrid, maybe even a purely equity deal. And you need the ability to be flexible and the ability to adapt to the situation…And you need the practices that you can bring to bear that are relevant for that sort of practice.”
“You need a top-tier tax practice. You need a top-tier funds practice because you’ve got to understand what the fund limitations are for these investors. You need great M&A, debt; restructuring is really key because often times in special sits, the downside is often restructuring. And then one of the wonderful things that Akin brought as part of the package was the policy front, the trade regs. So, understanding sanctions. When the Russia sanctions came in place, having the sanctions team we have at Akin has been amazing for these special sits investors…Finding that right group that would allow me to go meet with these clients—these credit funds were not just doing buy-and-hold, CLO/BDC-type investments, but were doing private credit and originating new loans, or special sits where they were doing tricky situations where we could bring them that good mix of practices at the highest level to be able to help them achieve those goals. So, that was what excited me about coming back to private practice was being able to do that—to bring that team to these clients—and it’s been great.”
To listen to the full episode, click here.
