Fergus Wheeler

fergus.wheeler@lw.com

+44.20.7710.1824

Profile

Fergus Wheeler is a partner in the Finance Department of Latham & Watkins’ London office and a member of the Banking Practice.

Mr. Wheeler focuses on private credit and other debt finance transactions, with experience in leveraged finance spanning more than 15 years.

He works with many of the most active private credit investors and has been at the forefront of legal developments in that asset class for more than a decade. He advises international private credit funds and a range of alternative capital providers investing across the capital structure in both performing and stressed or distressed situations.

Mr. Wheeler operates across both the large-cap and mid-market. He leverages deep knowledge of the syndicated bank lending market and private credit markets to find creative and commercial solutions for clients in all parts of the capital structure. He is widely recognized in the market as one of the leading holdco financing lawyers, having advised on multiple holdco PIK and complex back leverage transactions over the past decade.

Mr. Wheeler also works closely with the firm’s financial restructuring team on the covenant and structuring analysis of stressed and distressed credits, and on the financing aspects of liquidity solutions, liability management exercises, and full work-out situations.

Experience

Mr. Wheeler’s experience includes advising:

A club of 14 private credit lenders, led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and included Apollo, BlackRock, and Temasek, on the €1.5 billion financing of SumUp, a global financial technology business
A private credit lender on the €140 million refinancing of a leading global logistics software company
A syndicate of bank lenders financing CVC Capital’s acquisition of German sports nutrition company, the Quality Group*
A private credit fund as sole unitranche and holdco PIK lender financing Nordic Capital’s acquisition of Ascot Lloyd*
A private credit fund as unitranche lender in connection with a US$295 million term and revolving unitranche refinancing facility for Bridgepoint portfolio company, HKA*
A lender of record in connection with the restructuring of DTEK Energy B.V. and DTEK Finance PLC by way of interconditional schemes of arrangement*
A British private investment company in connection with a back-leveraged investment in a European web-hosting business*
A private credit fund in connection with an SEK2.3 billion unitranche facility for a Swedish private education business*
A multi-strategy private investment firm in connection with a £400 million refinancing and upsizing of existing credit facilities of the Odeon Cinemas Group*
One of Europe’s leading private debt firms in connection with the HoldCo PIK financing backing Cinven’s acquisition of Barentz, a global specialty ingredients distributor*
A leading global investment firm in connection with the financing of outsourced wealth management software business, FNZ Group*
Multiple private credit funds on super-senior term loan liquidity financings and basket-fill exercises*
One of Europe’s leading private debt firms on the holdco PIK refinancing of Evoca S.p.A. for Lonestar Funds*
An American multinational investment bank and financial services company in connection with a number of private holdco acquisition financings*
One of Europe’s leading alternative asset management firms and a global investment firm on the unitranche refinancing of FE Fund Info for HgCapital*
A multinational private equity, alternative asset management, and financial services fund manager on the private placement of the Unifruitti Group’s refinancing notes*
A global investment firm as unitranche provider in connection with the acquisition of Sykes Cottages group by Vitruvian*
A private debt fund and the European corporate private equity business of a merchant bank as holdco PIK lenders in connection with the refinancing of UK insurance business A-Plan*
A leading global investment firm as holdco PIK lender in connection with the acquisition of Danish metering business Combell*
One of Europe’s leading private debt firms as holdco PIK Lender in connection with the refinancing of UK software group Access Group*
A global investment firm as unitranche lender to Veritas Petroleum Services, owned by IK Partners*