WSJ Pro Bankruptcy: Akin Gump Snags Kirkland Vet
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This article is reproduced with permission from The Wall Street Journal:
Ranesh Ramanathan is joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to co-lead the firm's special situations and private credit group after a stint at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
He previously held in-house legal roles at Citigroup and Bain Capital for nearly 15 years before returning to private practice in 2018 at Kirkland. At Akin, Mr. Ramanathan is expected to advise its core asset-manager clients on structuring complex credit and capital investments, co-leading the special situations and private credit team.
Mr. Ramanathan joins Akin with credit stress and debt defaults at low levels by historical standards-but projected to rise through this year and next as the Federal Reserve continues increasing interest rates to battle persistent inflation.
Asset managers have been stockpiling capital for years, in anticipation of a market dislocation they expect to create opportunities for supplying alternative capital solutions, Mr. Ramanathan said in an interview. He said Akin is well-positioned for such a market through its leading special situations group and offerings in tax, international trade and other practice areas.
There are already signs of softening in corporate debt markets. Earnings are weakening as the economy slows, leveraged-loan defaults hit $6 billion in August-the highest monthly total since 2020-and banks this month lost more than $500 million unloading buyout debt tied to Citrix Systems Inc.
Against that backdrop, alternative investors are sitting on huge piles of capital to deploy. Private debt fundraising hit nearly $214 billion last year, the highest annual aggregate capital raised on record, with dry powder of nearly $413 billion as of the second quarter this year, according to Preqin.
"We're definitely going to see a need for creative capital," Mr. Ramanathan said. "Smart money is thinking the opportunity is going to be there." – Andrew Scurria
