Danelle Le Cren

Danelle heads the U.S. Banking practice and is the US representative on our Partnership Board. She has extensive experience in advising clients in complex domestic and cross-border finance transactions, including leveraged buy-outs and other acquisition financings, general corporate financings, fund financings, asset finance transactions, infrastructure and project finance transactions, structured and tax-based financings, debt restructurings and work outs. 

Danelle is the lead U.S. relationship partner for several of the firm’s major banking clients. She is ranked in Euromoney’s Banking, Finance and Transactional 2022 Expert Guide. 

Highlights of Danelle’s experience include:

• Takeda Pharmaceutical Company: advising as borrower on the US$30.85bn bridge loan agreement for its US$62bn recommended offer for Shire plc – the largest acquisition financing in Asia, and the largest acquisition financing by a Japanese company. We also advised on subsequent take-out facilities.
• Global Brands Group: advising a group of financial institutions as secured lenders in the multi-jurisdictional Global Brands Group.
• BYJU group: advising the lead arrangers (including J.P. Morgan) on the US$1.2bn New York law governed term loan B financing for the BYJU group, a privately held start-up which operates in the educational technology sector.
• Ports America Group, Inc.: advising the banks on the refinancing of the largest container terminal operator in North America.
• National Grid North America Inc.: advising on its US$400,000,000 bilateral term loan facility provided by Bank of America, N.A., as lender, to The Brooklyn Union Gas Company, a National Grid company. 
• ION Investment Group Limited: advising on the debt financing for the acquisition of Acuris / Mergermarket from BC Partners and Singapore's wealth fund GIC.
• Atlas Resource Partners L.P . (now known as Titan Energy, LLC): advising the administrative agent for the senior secured lender group under a US$700m first lien reserve based lending facility on the pre-packaged 36-day chapter 11 case of this company
• U.S. Silica Company: advising a group of international banking group and financial services holding company in connection with a US$1.380bn acquisition financing transaction in which the company refinanced its existing facilities and incurred additional US$955m credit facilities to fund its acquisition of EP Minerals Holdings, Inc.

Danelle is heavily involved in the work of the unglobalcompact.org, alongside partner Tom Shropshire, supporting the initiative for general counsel to play a greater role in advancing corporate sustainability.

Danelle has written extensively on leveraged and acquisition finance subjects. Her articles include:

Translating High Yield to Leveraged Loans: Avoiding Covenant Convergence Confusion, Lending & Secured Finance 2016

Term Loan B’s Problems at the Border, International Financial Law Review, May 2015

Danelle completed a bachelor of commerce at the University of Otago, New Zealand and a bachelor of laws at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.