TSL’s editor-in-chief sat down with key members of Holland & Knight’s ABL team, including Wade M. Kennedy, partner and co-lead of the Asset-Based Lending Team; Christopher S. Dillon, partner and co-lead of the Asset-Based Lending Team; Hamid Namazie, financial services partner; Yoojin Lee, financial services partner; and Mark Spitzer, financial services partner. Here, they discuss H&K’s strengthening of its finance practice, how they got their start in this specialty and the threats facing lenders in 2024.

H&K has strengthened its finance practice in the past year. What is driving that mission? Increased need in the geographic areas? Increased deals?

Kennedy: I think it reflects an overall mission of Holland & Knight to strengthen and expand its debt finance practice generally with a in the industry. Holland & Knight has long had a geographically broad and experienced group of ABL specialists serving middle market and money center banks and financial institutions, but the firm wanted to grow in the Midwest and West Coast as well as have national leadership specific to the ABL team. Given my Chicago connection, industry background and experience building one of the largest ABL practice groups in the country, my joining the firm made a lot of sense. Hamid, Yoojin and Mark all joined the firm separately several months after I did, but we all saw the same firm commitment to the practice, both in debt finance generally and ABL in particular. We now have over 65 members of the ABL team in offices across the country and particular depth in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Chicago. Chris Dillon and I co-lead the ABL team and have been tasked with providing national leadership to this expanding ABL practice and ensure we have the most efficient and effective ABL group in the nation, bringing our breadth of experience and intellectual capital to bear in the most effective way for our ABL clients. Our growth has been incremental and intentional, however, and we expect steady increases in deal flow in the ABL market over the next couple of years, in both bank and non-bank ABL transactions. Asset-based lending provides an important layer of the debt stack for many industries and transactions and is a particularly attractive financial product in down economic cycles like we are seeing now. It has been around for a long time and has distinct advantages for lenders and borrowers in any economic condition. We think that having a strong ABL practice is a good investment for the future of our firm and our clients.

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