Paul Weiss, Cadwalader Aid Apollo-BNP $5 Billion Credit Pact (1)

Paul Weiss and Cadwalader helped close a $5 billion pact between Apollo Global Management Inc. and French bank BNP Paribas SA for investment-grade, asset-backed lending deals.

Cadwalader’s team advising BNP was led by Neil Weidner and included partners Jeff Nagle, David Gingold, Robert Cannon, David Quirolo, Lisa Pauquette, Ira Schacter, Linda Swartz, Andrew Karp, Kathryn Borgeson, Jared Zajac and Patrick Yingling, the firm said in a statement.

Paul Weiss partner Anastasia Peterson, co-chair of the firm’s global financial services group, led the firm’s work for Apollo on the deal, a firm spokeswoman said.

Apollo and its Atlas SP arm will use the BNP funding to originate financing deals in a buzzy corner of credit markets. The initial $5 billion commitment is expected to grow over time and is one of the largest long-term private credit financings, according to a statement announcing the deal.

Paul Weiss has a long history representing Apollo on both litigation and transactional matters, helping the New York firm to bolster its corporate practice reputation over the past decade.

The law firm advised on three Apollo-related transactions in July alone, including a $700 million capital solution to Sony Music Group. Paul Weiss in June advised Apollo in a joint venture with Intel Corp. to develop a semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in Leixlip, Ireland. Apollo led an $11 billion investment to acquire a 49% interest in the new entity.

Law firms have made plays to win client work in asset-based lending, which provides lenders contractual returns from a defined pool of assets and has grown in popularity this year.

Kirkland & Ellis hired former Milbank partner Michael Urschel this summer to build out a borrower-side asset-backed financing practice. After that move, two former members of Urschel’s lender-side team at Milbank returned to King & Spalding, which they’d left in April last year.