Ranesh Ramanathan Q&A Featured by 9fin

Akin special situations & private credit co-head Ranesh Ramanathan participated in a Q&A arranged and published by leveraged finance news platform 9fin.

He discussed new opportunities in the $1 trillion private credit asset class, the firm’s plans for the recently opened Boston office, and his own work with human rights organization Immigration Equality.

A few of the highlights:

• Akin’s strength in private credit: “Given that our financial restructuring, funds and tax practices among others have all been market leaders in credit, we are uniquely positioned among elite law firms to be the logical legal partner to credit funds and other alternative capital providers. Since 2017, Akin has hired or elevated 36 senior lawyers into our special situations and private credit teams.”
• The significance of the emergence of a secondary market in private credit: “This is just one more sign that private credit is an enduring part of the future of capital structures. Secondary trading, securitizations and crossover investing are clear indications of the maturation of this market.”
• Why open in Boston?: “All of the firm’s decisions on geography are focused on meeting the needs of our clients, and the opening of our Boston office was no different. Akin has existing long-term relationships with Boston-based clients in alternative assets, special situations and credit, and private equity funds.”
• Why support LGBTQ and HIV-+ immigrant rights organization Immigration Equality?: “I am myself an asylee to the US, having received asylum protection in 1998 as one of the first LGBTQ+ people to be granted asylum after a change in the law that recognized those persecuted based on their sexual orientation as a protected class. So this issue has been very close to my and my husband’s hearts for many decades.”

To read the full Q&A, click here.