Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP today announced it has expanded its international private equity and finance platforms with the addition of market-leading attorney Andres Mena, who has joined the Firm as a partner and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Finance Practice. He is based in Willkie’s New York office. Mr. Mena was previously a partner at Paul Hastings LLP and at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
With more than two decades of professional experience, Mr. Mena concentrates his practice on private equity-backed debt finance transactions. He represents private equity firms, corporate borrowers and lenders in a wide variety of domestic and cross-border transactions, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and in and out-of-court workouts and reorganizations. He is widely recognized as a leader in his field by various legal ranking guides and publications, including Chambers and IFLR1000.
“Andres is a well-established practitioner in the market and a great addition to our global finance team,” said Viktor Okasmaa, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Finance Practice Group. “His strong cross-border dealmaking and transactional background, and his workout experience, is a perfect fit for our global finance work and complements Willkie’s broad corporate, M&A and private equity platforms serving clients across the globe. We are pleased to welcome him to the Firm.”
Mr. Mena commented: “Willkie’s depth and experience across the global transactional landscape was a significant draw for me and is highly synergistic to my practice. I am excited to join the leadership of Willkie’s global finance team and look forward to working with my new colleagues to build and develop new opportunities for the Firm and clients.”
Willkie’s global finance practice complements the Firm’s private equity, M&A, restructuring, capital markets, structured finance, real estate and tax groups to provide clients with comprehensive tools needed to achieve their goals. We advise private equity sponsors, borrowers, direct lenders, lending institutions and other traditional and non-traditional capital providers in a wide variety of transactions including private equity and acquisition (LBO) financings; bridge financings; cross-border financings; unitranche, second lien and mezzanine financings; term and revolving credit facilities; DIP and bankruptcy exit loans; restructurings; high yield, investment grade and convertible notes; institutional private placements; real estate financings; and project financings. Our finance team is recognized by a number of leading third-party organizations in the United States and Europe, including Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR1000.
