Roger S. Chari focuses his practice on a wide variety of secured lending and other finance transactions, primarily for lenders and underwriters but also for borrowers and issuers. He structures, negotiates, reviews and closes secured finance transactions for a wide range of domestic and foreign lending clients in different secured lending markets from $1.5 million to $6 billion, both in and out of bankruptcy.
Mr. Chari’s experience also includes all aspects of real estate collateral for syndicated bank finance and underwritten bond deals. That practice evolved to cover inventory and receivables, equipment, intellectual property, cash and securities accounts, aircraft, railcars, ships, precious metals, insurance policies and other specialized collateral.
A significant part of Mr. Chari’s practice encompasses swaps and derivatives for financial institutions, primarily on interest rate transactions but also for currency and commodity trades. Mr. Chari headed the firm’s LIBOR Transition Team, which drew from the firm’s broad experience in lending, regulatory, tax and other areas to guide lenders through the complex transition process. More recently, he has become active in the burgeoning financial technology and online funding and derivatives trading space.
Mr. Chari is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a summa cum laude graduate of Rutgers University.
Admissions
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York
Education
- Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude
- Rutgers University, B.A., summa cum laude
Experience
Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2019-presentLeClairRyan PLLC
- PartnerHahn & Hessen LLP
- PartnerFried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
- AssociateCahill Gordon & Reindel
- Associate
Representative Matters
Represented top 15 U.S. bank as lead arranger and administrative agent in a $90 million senior secured credit facility, consisting of a term loan and a revolver, with two top five money center banks as co-syndication agents and another top 25 bank as participant lender.
Represented CIBC Bank USA in a secured financing to CSM Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser and portfolio company of private equity fund Estancia Capital Partners.
Represented the New York office of a major private bank in $22.5 million of term and committed revolving loans, supported by a borrowing base, to a trust for one of its private wealth clients, a high-profile celebrity, secured by three life insurance policies issued by three different life insurance companies.
Represented the San Francisco office of a major private bank in a $40 million demand discretionary loan, supported by a borrowing base, to an estate planning trust for one of its private wealth clients to enable the trust to obtain four life insurance policies issued by three different life insurance companies to further the client’s estate planning and business succession goals.
Represented the Greenwich, Connecticut office of a major private bank in making two term loans and two demand discretionary loans to two trusts for one of its very high net worth clients secured by six life insurance policies issued by five different life insurance companies; the loans were supported by a borrowing base, and enabled the bank to refinance the loans that the client had with another bank, and convinced the client to move the investment and banking relationship.
Represented the Greenwich, Connecticut office of a major private bank in four term loans, supported by a borrowing base, and demand discretionary loans to two trusts for one of its private wealth clients secured by life insurance policies.
Represented a major private bank in a group of five term and demand discretionary loans, supported by a borrowing base, totaling $34 million to an insurance trust for one of its private wealth clients secured by 13 life insurance policies issued by six different life insurance companies.
Acted as counsel to the administrative agent and sole lead arranger on behalf of a national bank to document, negotiate and close a $52 million syndicated cash flow credit facility for the management buyout of a travel and entertainment company.
Selected Publications
- Author, "Banks on Regulatory Pause from Engaging in Cryptocurrency Activities," Duane Morris Alert, July 23, 2024
- Author, "Countdown to the New Digital Asset UCC Rules: Is Your State on Board?" Duane Morris Alert, July 2, 2024
- Author, "Banks As Crypto Custodians May Rest On SEC Bulletin's Fate," Law360, June 25, 2024
- Author, "SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121: Why Aren’t Banks Rushing into Crypto Custody?" Duane Morris Alert, June 10, 2024
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: The Effect of a Pandemic, War and Inflation," Duane Morris Alert, March 29, 2022
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: Borrower Tax Consequences and Final Regulations" The Banking Law Journal, April 2022
- Author, "Expert Q&A on LIBOR Transition: Issues for Borrowers to Consider," Thomson Reuters Practical Law, November 9, 2021
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: Synthetic Sterling LIBOR for Limited Tough Legacy Loans," Duane Morris Alert, November 9, 2021
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: Borrower Tax Consequences and Proposed Regulations," Duane Morris Alert, November 4, 2021
- Co-author, "An Update on LIBOR," REFJ: The Real Estate Finance Journal, Fall 2021
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: Term SOFR Formally Recommended… All Done?" Duane Morris Alert, July 30, 2021
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: What's a Borrower to Do?" Duane Morris Alert, June 24, 2021
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: IHS Markit Throws Its Hat into the Ring," Duane Morris Alert, June 23, 2021
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: Regulators Step Up Criticism of BSBY, Not So Much for Ameribor," Duane Morris Alert, June 22, 2021
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: Term SOFR Expected 'Days' After July 26," Duane Morris Alert, June 14, 2021
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: BSBY Out of the Gates First," Duane Morris Alert, June 3, 2021
- Author, "ARRC Announces Likely Administrator of Forward-Looking SOFR Term Rate," Duane Morris Alert, May 28, 2021
- Co-author, "LIBOR Transition: The Year in Review, So Far," Duane Morris Alert, May 10, 2021
- Co-author, "New York Governor Signs the First LIBOR Transition Legislation into Law," Duane Morris Alert, April 15, 2021
- Co-author, "AMERIBOR: Can the 'Most Boring Benchmark in America' Replace LIBOR?" The Real Estate Finance Journal, Winter 2020
- Author, "Loan Docs Should Standardize Libor Replacement Language," Law360, October 23, 2020
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: Can a Universal Descriptive Amendment Amend All Those Loan Agreements?" Duane Morris Alert, October 15, 2020
- Author, "LIBOR Transition: How Much Due Diligence Is Really Needed?" Duane Morris Alert, October 14, 2020
- Author, "Who Pays for LIBOR Transition?" Duane Morris Alert, September 25, 2020
- Co-author, "The LIBOR Transition: What Nonbank Lenders and Asset Managers Need to Know, and Do, Soon," Duane Morris Alert, September 22, 2020
- Contributor, "A Hot Issue for a Hot Summer: Time to Understand ISDA IBOR Benchmark Fallbacks," Duane Morris Banking and Finance Blog, August 18, 2020
- Contributor, "For LIBOR Transition Procrastinators, SOFR Starter Kit to the Rescue!," Duane Morris Banking and Finance Blog, August 10, 2020
- Co-author, "Hardwired for a Smoother LIBOR Transition?" Duane Morris Alert, August 6, 2020
- Contributor, "ARRC Pumps Up the Summer Heat on LIBOR Transition," Duane Morris Banking and Finance Blog, July 24, 2020
- Contributor, "Transition Away from LIBOR Gains Traction," Duane Morris Banking and Finance Blog, July 22, 2020
- Co-author, "Social Distancing and Notarization During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Duane Morris Alert, April 6, 2020
Media Hits
- Quoted, "CSRs Fight for Survival After ‘Damning’ Iosco Verdict," Risk.net, August 8, 2023
- Quoted, "Loans After LIBOR," Private Debt Investor, September 1, 2021
Selected Speaking Engagements
- Speaker, "Doing Deals in the COVID-19 Era Practical Considerations for Electronic Signatures and Remote Notarization," Duane Morris Webinar, April 3, 2020
- Speaker, "Managing and Preparing for LIBOR Transition: Practical Guide," The Knowledge Group Webcast, February 26, 2020