Michael A. Witt

Areas of Practice

• Commercial Finance
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Corporate and Business Law

Admissions

• Illinois

Education

• Loyola University School of Law, J.D., 1995
  Member, Loyola Law Journal
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.A., 1992

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Partner, 2005-present
  - Associate, 2000-2004
• Jones Day, Chicago, Illinois
  - Associate, 1995-2000

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association
   - Negotiated Acquisitions Committee
• Midwest Business Brokers and Intermediaries
• Illinois State Bar Association

Civic and Charitable Activities

• The Lungevity Foundation
   - Member, Benefits Committee
• Evanston Baseball and Softball Association - Board Member

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, "EBA Online Seminar Series: How COVID Has Changed Seniors Living and Care Underwriting," Environmental Banking Association, Webinar, April 29, 2021
• Co-presenter, "Starting a New Business: Some Legal and Practical Tips," Chicago, Illinois, October 19, 2010
• Co-guest lecturer, Venture Capital Structural Matters, Villanova Law School, Villanova, Pennsylvania, 2005-2013
• Lecturer, Villanova Law School's e-Business Class, March 2005

Representative Matters

Healthcare Financing

• Represented CIBC Bank USA, as administrative agent and lender, in a $56.1 million syndicated financing transaction, including term loan, revolving loan and capex facilities, with a real estate investment group with a large portfolio of skilled nursing, assisted living and long term care facilities, to acquire a facility with skilled nursing, memory care and independent living components.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA, as lender, on a bilateral financing transaction composed of a term loan facility of $14.2 million, a revolving loan facility of $2 million, and a capex facility of $3.6 million, with a real estate investment group with a large portfolio of various skilled nursing, assisted living, and long term care facilities.

• Represented Popular Bank as administrative agent and lender in a $50 million refinancing, which consisted of a term loan secured by mortgages in Florida and North Carolina and a revolving credit facility for the operation of the skilled nursing home facilities located on the properties.

• Represented Popular Bank in a $75 million acquisition and revolving credit facility to a Montreal-based real estate investment firm and a Chicago-based health services provider on their joint venture acquisition of three nursing homes in Delaware.

• Represented Popular Bank, as agent and lead lender, in a $65 million syndicated acquisition financing of three skilled nursing homes in Southern California.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA in a $47 million construction loan for a skilled nursing home facility located in Eugene, Oregon.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA in a $40 million term loan and refinancing of eight assisted living facilities and skilled nursing homes in Minnesota to Monarch Healthcare Management, an operator of senior living centers.

• Represented Popular Bank in a $40 million term loan to a REIT based in New York on a refinancing of four skilled nursing facilities located in Oklahoma and Texas.

• Represented Popular Bank, as agent and lead lender, in a $30 million syndicated acquisition financing for skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities in New York.

• Represented certain subsidiaries of Petersen Health Care, one of the largest nursing home operators in Illinois, in obtaining for its nursing home portfolio some $140 million in financing: from two revolving credit facilities agented by Credit Suisse AG, New York Branch, a term loan from Sector Financial Inc. (an affiliate of Credit Suisse) and a mezzanine term loan from an affiliate of GMF Capital, a private equity firm.

Other Syndicated Secured Financings

• Represented a regional banking institution as agent in a subscription-backed fund financing revolving loan in the amount of $75 million to a real-estate based private investment fund and its various subsidiaries.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA as administrative agent and lead lender in a $40 million syndicated refinancing to a group of specialty manufacturing companies, which consisted of (i) a term loan secured by mortgages in California and Montana and (ii) a term loan, a capital expenditures loan and a revolving credit facility for the operation of the facilities located on the properties.

• Represented Balchem Corporation (Nasdaq: BCPC), a chemical manufacturer, and its U.S. subsidiaries in a $500 million syndicated secured financing with J.P. Morgan Chase as administrative agent.

• Represented J.P. Morgan Chase as agent and lead lender in a $165 million syndicated secured financing to one of the nation's largest turkey processing companies.

• Represented Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, N.A. in its extension of a $37.1 million secured, revolving credit facility to an investment fund of an opportunistic real estate investment firm.

Private Equity Sponsor-Led Financings

• Represented Twin Light Capital, a private equity firm focused on the seniors housing and healthcare sector, in its $36 million acquisitions of Hudson Manor, an assisted living facility in Tampa, Florida, and 13 additional assisted living facilities.

• Represented Associated Bank as agent and lead lender in a $19 million senior secured financing to High Street Capital, a private equity fund located in Chicago, Illinois, in its acquisition of a feed mill company that provides feed to farms throughout the Midwest region of the United States; the deal also involved subordinated and seller debt.

• Represented Clock Spring Company, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of composite pipeline and pipe work repair solutions, in its financings to enable the acquisition of Citadel Technologies, a manufacturer of engineered carbon-fiber composite repairs, including restructuring the existing revolver and real estate loan, and completing equity financing and conventional and convertible loans from a private equity firm.

• Represented Associated Bank as agent and lead lender in a $15 million secured financing to Merit Capital, a Chicago private equity fund, in its acquisition of a calibration, inspection and repair of electronic and mechanical test instrument company.

• Represented Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, N.A. in its extension of a $23 million credit facility to non-profit corporation that owns and runs the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.

Specialty Lending – Warehouse, Insurance and Tax Liens

• Represented Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, a Wintrust community bank, in connection with a $49 million acquisition financing transaction. LFB&TC acted as the administrative agent and co-lender to provide a $33 million term loan, an $8.5 million delayed draw term loan, and a $7.5 million revolving line of credit to an industry leading international captive insurance manager and its affiliates.

• Represented Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, a Wintrust community bank, in connection with an $81 million refinancing transaction. Lake Forest acted as administrative agent and co-lender to provide a term loan of approximately $46 million, a delayed draw term loan of $20 million and a $15 million revolving line of credit to an insurance agency headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA as agent and lead lender in a $175 million secured financing to a middle market specialty finance firm to make healthcare related loans as-needed to its customers.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA as agent and lead lender in a $38 million secured financing to MidCap Financial, to permit MidCap to make various real estate related loans on an as-needed basis to its customers.

• Represented CIBC Bank USA as agent and lender in a $50 million warehouse line of credit to CNH Finance, an asset based lender.

• Represented Lake Forest Bank & Trust on a $20 million loan to The Plexus Group, a privately-owned insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm.

• Represented Integro UK, the specialty insurance brokerage firm, in connection with its $2.5m (c.£2.03m) investment into Bermuda-based underwriting technology start-up Helix Underwriting Partners Ltd., with Integro’s investment giving Helix an enterprise valuation of $10 million (c.£8.12m), and simultaneously on a restructuring of Helix to permit expansion.

• Represented Associated Bank in a $10 million revolving loan for tax liens. 

• Represented Associated Bank/TLH in a $10 million revolving loan for tax liens, to provide borrowers statutory return on investment through tax certificates at auction.