Capital Markets

Sidley consistently ranks among the top U.S. and global capital markets firms both by deal value and by number of offerings, with strong showings as both issuer and underwriter counsel in major securities categories, including overall debt and equity, straight debt, asset-backed securities, investment grade corporate debt, high-yield debt, IPOs, and follow-on stock offerings.

Recent accomplishments of our award-winning practice include:

• LSEG (Refinitiv) 2023
  • No. 1 US-Listed At-the-Market Offerings - Manager Legal Advisor
  • No. 1 US Debt, Equity & Equity -Related - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 1 US Straight Debt Including ABS & MBS - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 1 Australia International Bonds - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 2 US Debt, Equity & Equity -Related - Manager Advisor by Value
  • No. 3 Global Debt, Equity & Equity-Related - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 3 Global Straight Debt Including ABS & MBS - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 5 US Debt, Equity & Equity -Related – Issuer Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 5 Asia Pacific G3 Bonds - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 5 US Straight Debt Excluding ABS & MBS - Manager Advisor by Value
• Bloomberg 2023
  • No. 2 Issuer’s Counsel for U.S. Equity IPOs – H1 2023
  • No. 3 US Corporate Bonds - Manager Advisor by Value
  • No. 3 Global Bonds - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 10 US Loans - Lender Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 12 US Leveraged Finance - Borrower Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 13 Global Bonds - Issuer Advisor by Deal Count
  • No. 14 US Equity Offerings - Manager Advisor by Deal Count
• Ranked in top five bands in several Chambers categories:
  
  • Asia-Pacific - Capital Markets: High-Yield Products
  • Australia Capital Markets: US Law
  • China: International – Capital Markets: High-Yield Products (International Firms) 2024
  • Asia-Pacific - Capital Markets: Debt and Equity
  • Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Manager Counsel
  • Capital Markets: Structured Products
  • India Capital Markets (International Firms)
  • REITs
  • Singapore Capital Markets: International
  • California - Capital Markets: Debt & Equity
  • Capital Markets: Equity: Issuer and Manager Counsel
  • Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Issuer Counsel
  • China: International – Capital Markets: Debt & Equity (International Firms) 2024
  • Texas - Capital Markets: Debt & Equity
  • UK - Capital Markets: Debt
• FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2023
  • “Best Equity Deal: South Asia”: PNB Housing Finance’s INR25 billion rights issue
  • “Best IPO: South Asia”: Mankind Pharma’s RS43.264 billion IPO
  • “Best IPO: Southeast Asia”: Amman Mineral International’s US$708 million IPO
  • “Best Property Deal: China Offshore”: China Fortune Land Development’s US$4.96 billion offshore debt restructuring
  • “Best Property Deal: North Asia”: KKR and Gaw Capital’s acquisition of Hyatt Regency Tokyo
• Indonesia Law Awards 2023
  • “IPO Deal of the Year” Award at the ALB
• India Business Law Journal 2023
  • One of the “Top Foreign Law Firms”
• The Legal 500 UK 2023
  • Ranked in the UK for Finance: Debt Capital Markets
• The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023 Guide
  • Capital Markets – Australia
  • Capital Markets (Debt) – Hong Kong
  • Capital Markets (Equity) – Hong Kong
  • Capital Markets: Equity and Debt: Foreign Firms – Singapore
• First-tier national rankings in Securities/Capital Markets Law from 2010 – 2024, Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
• Recognized as leaders in the field by all the well-regarded legal directories, such as Chambers Global, Chambers UK, Chambers USA, Chambers Asia Pacific, and IFLR 1000

We are widely recognized for our extensive knowledge and experience in the capital markets space, including our work on a wide variety of complex and innovative financial instruments and structures and our experience across a broad range of industries, both domestically and internationally. Our Capital Markets lawyers structure and execute U.S. and international securities offerings that range from conventional to cutting-edge, resulting in our leading U.S. and international rankings. Our Capital Markets practice includes:

• investment-grade debt offerings;
• high-yield debt offerings;
• secured debt offerings;
• IPOs, add-on equity offerings, and equity offerings by selling stockholders;
• spin-offs and privatizations;
• exchangeable securities offerings;
• offerings of preferred stock, regulatory capital securities, and other hybrid capital instruments;
• offerings of structured notes, including equity, commodity and currency-linked, indexed, and other derivative products;
• medium-term note, commercial paper, extendible note, at-the-market common stock, and other funding programs;
• debt offerings by sovereign entities; and
• asset securitization and equipment trust offerings.

Our clients include large and small companies and financial institutions operating in more than 100 business categories located throughout the U.S. and the world, as well as a number of governments and government-related entities. We advise more than 175 public companies on securities transactions and ongoing reporting and disclosure matters. We also represent virtually all of the world’s major investment banking firms, many regional investment banking firms, and other financial intermediaries in connection with securities transactions. We serve as issuer’s counsel for more than 400 companies and as designated underwriters’ counsel on securities transactions for more than 250 companies.

Sidley’s capital markets team of professionals has worked on a significant number of the initial public offerings (IPOs) that are listed on the HKEX, and ranks among the top firms in terms of number of deals. Many of these transactions involve a concurrent global placement pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. We also have the capability to handle dual listings and cross-border IPOs, such as SEC-registered IPOs listed on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ with concurrent listings elsewhere, and global placements with listings on non-U.S. stock exchanges. Our issuer clients include major corporations from industries such as life sciences, technology, retail, automotives, real estate, power, energy, solar, internet, telecom, oilfield services, metals, paper and pulp, mining, transportation, and consumer products. In addition, we have also worked with numerous leading financial institutions in their role as underwriter or sponsor in connection with equity transactions.

“They make efficient and effective use of resources and have a good spread of senior and junior lawyers, with good transaction experience to assist us in navigating complex issues.”
Chambers Greater China Region: Capital Markets 2023

Sidley has a widely respected debt capital markets practice in China. We advise clients on all types of debt transactions from “plain vanilla” deals to complex cross-border deals involving multiple jurisdictions, multiple tranches and various collateral, repayment and priority structures. We also have broad experience in the development and issuance of innovative convertible and exchangeable products, including convertible products involving multi-jurisdictional structures and the use of special purpose vehicles and variable rate contingent interest and floating rate and zero coupon convertible products.

Sidley has an extensive track record advising leading financial institutions as well as corporate issuers, many of which are market leaders in China and other parts of the region. We also represent sovereigns and quasi-sovereigns throughout the region on a broad range of matters. We are particularly proud of Sidley’s long-standing role as international counsel to the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China since China’s re-entry into the international debt capital markets in 1994.

“Sidley is proactive, effective and very efficient. The team managed to complete the transaction within a very tight timeframe.”
Chambers Greater China Region: Capital Markets 2023

In addition to our broad experience in transactions involving investment grade debt securities, our capital markets team in Asia Pacific has received widespread recognition as a market leader in high-yield debt transactions. Our team is consistently ranked in the top tier among international law firms as listed by well-regarded legal directories such as Chambers China Region and Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

We are widely recognized for the breadth and depth of our work, including the complexity of our transactions, the volume and variety of the offerings we handle and our experience across a broad range of industries.