When private credit lenders, borrowers and funds need sophisticated equity co-investment solutions to optimize returns and manage risk, they turn to Emily Watson, whose extensive transactional experience positions her as the ideal advisor in navigating complex private debt structures across a range of industries, including healthcare, business services, insurance, and manufacturing and distribution.
A deep transactional background and laser focus on high-quality service drive results
Emily knows the importance of doing jobs well, no matter how large or small. Clients benefit from the personal satisfaction she gets from providing thoughtful, seasoned advocacy and counsel. Emily's practice focuses on advising alternative asset managers, private credit funds, other lenders and limited partners on structuring and executing equity participation arrangements (whether passive or active) in connection with their lending activities to ensure the best possible outcome, including through direct and pooled capital investments, warrants, convertible debt, and other co-investment structures.
Emily's ability to deliver exceptional value to clients stems from her extensive background in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity. Having spent much of her career representing private equity sponsors, closely held businesses, entrepreneurs, investors and management teams, Emily brings a nuanced understanding of how borrowers think, what drives their strategic objectives, and how different equity participation arrangements can align lender and borrower interests. This perspective allows her to anticipate issues, reconcile diverse interests, and position her private credit and other clients for optimal outcomes (taking into account a client’s tax needs and expectations as to investor protections, post-closing funding obligations and exit alternatives) when structuring equity financings.
In addition to her focus on private credit and other equity participation arrangements (including control, non-control and growth equity investments), Emily continues to assist her M&A and private equity clients, advising private equity sponsors (whether traditional committed fund sponsors, alternatively funded or unfunded) as well as family-owned and other closely held businesses on structuring and executing leveraged buyouts and other acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and other complex commercial transactions. She also has extensive experience counselling founders, management teams and high-net-worth investors, including in respect of their equity capital and incentive equity arrangements. For her strategic and financial clients, including private equity funds and their portfolio companies, Emily routinely serves as an outside general counsel, assisting in executing their commercial objectives.
