Capital & Debt Raises
ZLG’s Capital Equity & Debt Financing practice focuses on representing borrowers and issuers, venture capital and private equity funds (including independent sponsors) as well as lenders in various phases of a company’s growth cycle.
We have the capacity to work with all types of companies from startups and emerging growth businesses to established international companies across a broad range of industries.
About Capital Equity & Debt Financing
The Right Head-Start
Given the rapid growth of technological and entrepreneurial advancements, the structure of business transactions is increasingly complex and competition is intense among operating businesses looking to raise capital as well as, private equity firms, venture capital firms, and other investors seeking to deploy capital.
Raising capital, whether to start a business or to support expansion, plays a key role in determining which businesses succeed in today’s competitive economy. In this environment’s ZLG’s legal experience, speed, agility and creativity are more important than ever.
Sophisticated Counsel Adds Value from Start to Finish
ZLG regularly represents issuers and investors in pre-venture and venture capital financings and all manner of private placement offerings. We work with companies operating across a broad range of industrial sectors, including technology, start-up and emerging growth companies. Our lawyers also regularly counsel and advise venture capital funds, pooled investment vehicles, private equity, as well as angel, seed and high net worth investors.
ZLG has the knowledge and skills necessary to handle the most sophisticated private securities transactions. Our firm has over 80 years of collective experience preparing private placements and configuring capital raises through a variety of offering structures and across multiple industry sectors. As a boutique firm primarily consisting of ‘big law’ attorneys, ZLG can deliver effective and efficient legal counsel, quicker responses and business-friendly answers to questions arising from multifaceted fundraising transactions. We provide strategic and ongoing representation to investors, issuers and agents in a wide variety of fundraising contexts, including preferred equity and convertible debt offerings.
Our private placement and capital raise services include counseling clients on all aspects of equity and debt offerings, including structuring the offering terms, preparing private placement memorandums and other offering documentation (e.g., subscription or purchase agreements, limited partnership, partnership, and operating agreements, etc.), and advising the client on compliance with federal and state securities laws, including filing Form D and any required blue sky state filings.
ZLG also has the experience and depth to help clients address and resolve the complex and diverse issues that so often arise in connection with fundraising transactions, including tax and intellectual property issues.
Developing Innovated Solutions
ZLG’s seasoned legal professionals focus on creating innovative capital-raising solutions for our clients with the goal of helping the client achieve the most effective business strategy.
On the issuer side, we understand our clients’ businesses and work closely with them to structure transactions that meet their particular financing needs and goals. We serve a wide variety of issuers, from start-up companies to sophisticated sponsors, and understand how to partner with and also lead clients through the capital raising process (as certain of our team members have personally raised capital for their own businesses through a traditional private placement offering).
On the investor side, we have broad experience tailoring capital-raising investments to serve the specific investment objectives of private equity funds, venture capital funds, independent sponsors, angel investors, and other investors.
We also partner with our clients and friends of the firm. In understanding clients’ and friends of the firm’s fundraising or investment objectives, we look to match companies and investors based on their respective objectives.
ZLG is a team of highly integrated, multi-disciplinary attorneys who know how to get deals done. Whether you are new to the process or a seasoned entrepreneur, ZLG can provide the structure for successful private placements and capital raises to benefit issuers and investors alike
Equity and Debt Transactions
Practice Overview
ZLG’s lawyers represent borrower and issuer businesses as well as lenders in various phases of a company’s growth cycle of investment and financings.
We have the capacity to work with all types of companies from startups and emerging growth businesses to established international companies across a broad range of industries.
Our lawyers also advise venture funds, private equity funds, pooled investment vehicles, angel, seed, and high net worth investors. We provide counsel in capital procurement, secured transactions, complex financing and subordination relationships and capitalizations. We develop innovative solutions to provide financing solutions to help ensure the steady growth of our clients’ businesses.
Issuer Side Equity Transactions
Our experience and industry relationships with numerous capital groups and private equity funds allow us to help our clients secure funding and build equity value.
Some of the types of equity transaction services our lawyers provide include:
Capital Raises
Private Placements
Recapitalizations
Angel and Seed Funding
Minority Stake Investments
Add-On Acquisitions
Lending Transactions
ZLG’s attorneys represent both borrowers, private lenders, banking corporations and mezzanine debt investment funds to meet their goals and objectives in lending transactions.
Our representative lending services include:
Traditional Lending
Refinancing’s
Private Secured Transactions
Subordinated Debt
Mezzanine Debt Financing
Unitranche Financing
Our experience and industry relationships help our clients secure deals and build equity value. Our attorneys represent early through late stage investors and companies, lenders and financial institutions, covering the full life cycle of their investments and financings – including growth equity, add-on acquisitions, re-financings, dividend recaps, leveraged buyouts and exits. We guide our clients in traditional debt, equity and co-investment financings as well complex “carve outs”, recapitalizations, “turnaround” investments, and M&A.
As part of ZLG’s fund practice, we also have deep experience with minority-stake investments across a range of industries, representing investors who specialize in minority-only positions as well as lenders who take equity positions alongside sponsors.
Our experience allows us to understand majority owner’s motivations, anticipate potential areas of misalignment between a sponsor/majority owner and a minority investor, preserve key protections for our clients, and position our clients on the best possible footing for exit.
Our lawyers have also been successful in representing mezzanine funds in complex transactions, in large part because our prior experience representing equity investors, buyout sponsors, senior lenders and borrowers has allowed us to find creative solutions to challenging, multi-party negotiations.
When representing mezzanine funds, our lawyers also take the time to understand the full spectrum of the legal — as well as tax, financial, and business — considerations that shape their financing and business combination transactions.
Fund Formation
Seed and Early Stage Financing
Liquidity and Exit Transactions
Recapitalizations
Investment Management
Leveraged Buyouts
Portfolio Company Advice
Traditional Financing
Second Lien and Unitranche Financing
Mezzanine Debt
Private Lending and Secured Transactions