Stuart J. Chasanoff

Stuart Chasanoff represents private investment funds, institutional investors and SBICs in a wide range of financing and transactional matters.

Drawing on diverse professional experience, he devises creative, efficient solutions to complex challenges and helps clients achieve their personal and business goals. Stuart advises private equity and mezzanine funds, independent sponsors and institutional investors on fund formation, mergers and acquisitions, equity investments and exits. He also counsels portfolio companies, start-ups and private businesses on formation, governance and day-to-day business and operational issues.

He works with fund managers to launch and operate funds, structure and exit investments, and oversee legal matters for portfolio companies. He also advises SBICs on program fit, licensing, compliance, investor negotiations and SBA regulatory filings.

For institutional investors and family offices, he develops investment strategies, negotiates fund terms and side letters, and structures and reviews co-investments. His background includes practice at multinational law firms and in-house roles with family offices and global public companies.

Experience

• Led mezzanine fund restructuring of an infectious disease testing business. Replaced independent sponsor, reworked capital structure, restructured equity incentives and negotiated executive employment and compensation arrangements with new management team. Business turned from negative EBITDA to approximately $75 million in EBITDA over four years.
• Advised an emerging manager in structuring, terms and launch of two private funds focused on providing high-net-worth individuals and family offices access to high-quality, middle-market senior secured loans.
• Advised on liftout of a management team forming a new credit-focused SBIC, including structuring and negotiating seed investment from a well-known Dallas private equity fund. Worked through a challenging licensing process and successfully closed the fund.
• Launched a credit-focused SBIC created by separate fund managers joining forces. Provided extensive review, analysis and recommendations on presentation of track records. Also led negotiations with regulators to overcome objections to fund subscription line.