James Barresi chairs the firm’s global Financial Services Practice Group. He advises financial institutions and finance companies, private equity funds and hedge funds in corporate and commercial finance matters, mergers and acquisitions and complex investment transactions. Jim has substantial experience in the acquisition of troubled financial institutions and distressed companies and in managing exposure to troubled financial institutions.

Immediately prior to joining Squire Sanders, Jim served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel of one of the largest and most acquisitive bank holding companies in the United States.

Jim is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. He is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and its committees on Banking Law, Business Financing and Negotiated Acquisitions. Jim is a member of the executive committee of the Board of Directors of The Central Clinic.

Representative Experience

Corporate Finance and Investments

• Representing the US Department of Treasury in connection with its TARP Capital Purchase Program and in making several hundred investments in US financial institutions since October 2008.
• Representing three of the largest bank holding companies in the US in raising more than US$25 billion in capital and liquidity, in total, since June 2008. Includes providing strategic advice on S-CAP and regulatory capital matters and leading transaction execution in the issuance of common stock, preferred stock, convertible preferred stock, enhanced trust preferred securities, and guaranteed (TLGP) and non-guaranteed senior debt and subordinated debt. Transactions include public offerings, private placements and public and private tender offers.
• Representing four bank holding companies and two energy companies in numerous groundbreaking issuances of “new” hybrid securities totaling more than US$25 billion including the first such transaction approved by the Federal Reserve in December 2005.
• Advising multiple leading financial institutions in developing bank note programs, medium term note programs and commercial paper programs and in related issuances in the United States, Europe and Canada.
• Advising underwriters in offerings of equity and debt securities by several bank holding companies, insurance companies and specialty finance companies.
• Advising a hedge fund and CDO sponsor in restructuring several large investments in subordinated instruments issued by C-BASS.
• Advising four public commodity pools in managing their portfolio exposure in connection with the Refco bankruptcy.
• Advising a high-yield fund sponsored by JPMorgan in a structured investment in a distressed debt hedge fund.
• Advising several multinational corporations and leading financial institutions in managing exposure to financial institutions in 2008 and 2009 and in unwinding portfolios of derivative transactions with Lehman Brothers.
• Representing several leading financial institutions and multinational corporations in complex syndicated loan transactions including cross-border, leveraged acquisition financings involving multicurrency loans involving senior and subordinated debt.

 Mergers and Acquisitions

• Advising multiple regional banks in acquiring failed banks in FDIC assisted and unassisted transactions.
• Advising several bank holding companies in mergers, acquisitions and dispositions including five acquisitions of troubled competitors and dispositions of branches, broker dealers, trust companies and insurance agencies.
• Representing purchasers and sellers of loan portfolios.
• Representing three private equity funds in multiple leveraged acquisitions and divestitures and in financing such acquisitions.
• Advising a multinational conglomerate in the sale of its assets in numerous simultaneous transactions in connection with its restructuring.
• Advising a multinational conglomerate in the sale of a substantial portion of its assets in connection with a reorganization.
• Representing a multinational conglomerate in the sale of a division including a foreign subsidiary.

Sample Articles

• “Select provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act affecting banks,” Financier Worldwide: Special Report Analyzing the Dodd-Frank Act, October 2010.
• “Comerica Announces Redemption of Trust Preferred Securities – Underscores Need for BHCs to Focus on Capital in Light of Collins Amendment,” Squire Sanders Financial Services Alert, available at www.ssd.com, September 2010.
• Hybrid Securities: An Increasingly Popular Financing Tool,” Infrastructure, ABA Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law, Vol. 46, No. 4, Summer 2007.
• “Preserving a Debtor’s Derivatives Portfolio in US Bankruptcy/UK Administration,” Financier Worldwide: Corporate Finance Intelligence, March 27, 2005.
• “Federal Reserve Board Issues Final Rule for Trust Preferred Securities,” available at www.ssd.com, March 2005.