Allison Liff

About Allison Liff

Allison Liff’s practice focuses on the representation of private equity firms and their portfolio companies, as well as corporate clients, across the globe in a wide variety of complex domestic and cross-border debt financing transactions, including acquisition financings, recapitalizations, asset-based lending, liability management transactions and restructurings, and ongoing strategic advice.

Allison is recognized as a leading lawyer for Banking & Finance by Chambers Global and Chambers USA, where clients note “she is smart, market-oriented and a great negotiator.” She is also recognized as a “Highly Regarded” lawyer for Banking in the US by IFLR1000 and an expert in Banking & Finance by Expert Guides’ “Women in Business Law.” Allison was shortlisted as a “Banking & Finance Lawyer of the Year” for Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards for 2022. She was recognized as a 2019 Banking “MVP” by Law360 and selected as one of The M&A Advisor’s 2014 “40 Under 40” honorees, an award that recognizes attorneys under the age of 40 for their accomplishments and expertise in the financing, M&A and turnaround fields.

Allison spent six years at Goldman Sachs, where she was a Managing Director and head of the Leveraged Finance Legal team, responsible for the Americas Financing Group (including large cap and middle market leveraged finance and restructuring) and the bank debt portfolio group.

Recent work

• Advent International on its:
  • $1.95 billion first lien multicurrency facilities to finance its $2.7 billion acquisition, in partnership with James "Jim" Peck, former Chief Executive Officer of TransUnion, of Nielsen Global Connect.
  • financing for the acquisition by its affiliate AI Beauty of cosmetics brands bareMinerals, BUXOM and Laura Mercier (collectively, n/k/a Orveon) from Shiseido.
  • $225 million senior secured credit facilities to finance its acquisition of First Watch Restaurants.
  • $600 million first and second lien facilities to finance its acquisition of Culligan International Company.
  • senior secured facilities primarily to finance its acquisition of QW Holding Corp. from Roark Capital Group.
  • €1.5 billion senior term and revolving multicurrency facilities to finance the take-private acquisition of Nuplex Industries by Allnex.
  • first and second lien multicurrency credit facilities to finance its acquisition of Distribution International.
  • financing for its acquisition of NCS Energy Services.
• Apollo Infrastructure and on the financing of its acquisition of Parallel Infrastructure from Lendlease and subsequent sale to Harmony Towers (a Palistar Capital portfolio company).
• Ardian on its revolving and first and second lien term facilities to finance its acquisition of a majority stake in Florida Food Products and to refinance existing FFP indebtedness.
• ATI Physical Therapy (an Advent International portfolio company) on a $550 million credit facility comprised of a $500 million senior secured term loan and $50 million super-priority senior secured revolver to refinance its existing long-term debt.
• Berkeley Lights on its acquisition of IsoPlexis.
• Black Knight on its $2 billion senior secured facilities for its subsidiary, Black Knight Info Serv.
• Blackstone portfolio company, Schenck Process Group, on the sale of its food and performance materials business to Hillenbrand, Inc.
• Centerbridge Partners on its:
  • $625 million senior secured credit facilities to finance its substantial minority investment in syncreon.
  • facilities, comprised of a $300 million term loan and an $80 million asset-based credit facility, to finance portfolio company Capmark Financial’s acquisition of Bluestem.
• Ceridian HCM (a public company backed by THL Partners and Cannae) on its:
  • $980 million senior secured IPO-related facilities to refinance existing indebtedness.
  • $832 million standalone multicurrency credit facilities, following the sale of its subsidiary, Comdata.
• Coupa on its pending $8 billion sale to Thoma Bravo.
• Culligan International Company (an Advent International portfolio company) on its:
  • $430 million first and second lien term facilities to finance its acquisition of ZIP Industries.
  • incremental senior secured facility to finance its acquisition of TWH Filtration Industries, including its principal subsidiary Paragon Water Systems.
  • $350 million first lien term facilities to finance in part, and among other purposes, its $1.1 billion take-private of Aqua Venture.
  • incremental second lien term facility to finance, in part, its acquisition of Harvey Water Softeners and to repay existing indebtedness.
  • $230 million incremental first lien term facilities to finance, in part, its acquisition of Aqua Vital and an incremental revolving facility increase.
• CVC Capital Partners on its $1.3 billion senior secured revolving facilities to finance its acquisition of Radwell International.
• Definitive Healthcare (an Advent International portfolio company) on its $350 million senior secured facilities to refinance existing indebtedness immediately following its IPO.
• Ditech on the restructuring of its approximately $1.4 billion term loan as part of a prepackaged plan of reorganization under chapter 11 that eliminated approximately $800 million of corporate debt and $1.9 billion debtor-in-possession facilities to refinance Ditech and RMS' existing warehouse and servicer advance facilities and to fund their continued business operations during their chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
• Fidelity National Financial on its $800 million revolving and $1.1 billion term credit facilities to finance its acquisition of Lender Processing Services and a subsequent amendment to said revolver.
• First Watch Restaurants (a publicly traded company backed by Advent International) on its $175 million senior secured facilities to refinance existing indebtedness following its IPO.
• GI Partners on its senior secured facilities to finance its acquisition of Vast Broadband.
• Golden West Packaging (a Lindsay Goldberg portfolio company) on its:
  • senior secured term and revolving facilities to finance its acquisition of four independent packaging companies.
  • senior secured incremental term facility to finance its acquisitions of Fibre Containers Company Manufacturing Division and Impact MFG.
• Goldman Sachs on its:
  • $560 million first and second lien facilities to finance its acquisition of Restaurant Technologies.
  • $260 million senior secured facilities to finance, in part, its acquisition, together with Eurazeo, of Trader Interactive and subsequently on Trader Interactive’s $445 million senior secured facilities, to, primarily, refinance existing indebtedness.
  • financing for its investment in AvaSure.
• NCS Multistage (an Advent International portfolio company) on an amendment and restatement of its $50 million senior secured multicurrency revolving credit facilities in connection with its IPO.
• OXEA S.à.r.l. (at the time, an Advent International portfolio company) on its approximately $1.6 billion first and second lien dividend recapitalization financing.
• PhenomeX on its $108m sale to Bruker Corporation. 
• PSAV (at the time, a Goldman Sachs and Olympus Partners portfolio company) on its $1.4 billion first and second lien facilities to refinance existing indebtedness.
• P.F. Chang's (at the time, a Centerbridge portfolio company) on its $380 million senior secured facilities.
• Serta Simmons Bedding (an Advent International portfolio company) on its:
  • $1.05 billion super-priority senior secured upsized term facility, as part of a recapitalization that eliminated debt and provided liquidity.
  • $2.4 billion first and second lien term facilities and an amendment and restatement of their existing $225million asset-based revolving facility.
• Shift4 Payments (a Searchlight Capital portfolio company) on its $600 million first and second lien facilities to refinance existing indebtedness and to finance an acquisition.
• Sovos Brands (an Advent International portfolio company) on its:
  • $185 million senior secured credit facilities to finance its acquisition of Rao's Specialty Foods.
  • $75 million senior secured credit facilities to finance its acquisition of Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods.
  • $325 million senior secured multicurrency facilities to finance its merger with Noosa Yoghurt (an Advent International portfolio company)
  • first and second lien facilities to, primarily, refinance existing indebtedness.
• syncreon Group B.V. on its:
  • $126 million secured term facility to finance operations during a scheme process in the United Kingdom and meet its immediate liquidity needs; senior secured term loan credit facility consisting of a $125.5 million first out tranche and a $225 million second out tranche; and $135 million multicurrency senior secured ABL facility, each to finance operations upon its completion of the scheme process.
  • on an amended and extended $100 million senior secured revolving facility to, among other things, create capacity for a third-party receivables financing facility and on a $100 million ABL senior secured revolving receivables financing facility.

• Thrasio (a company in which Advent International and Silver Lake have substantial minority investments) on its recapitalization and on several incremental debt raises.

• TPG on its:
  • senior secured term and revolving facilities to finance its acquisition of Morrow Sodali.
  • senior secured facilities to finance its acquisition of Keter Environmental Services.
  • $465 million senior secured term and revolving facilities and commitments for Accel Entertainment, in connection with its acquisition by SPAC TPG Pace Holdings Corp., and to refinance existing indebtedness.