Christopher M. Swartout

Chris Swartout is a Principal in the firm's Commercial Finance Group. He represents banks and non-bank financial institutions in structuring, negotiating, and documenting a broad range of commercial finance transactions, including acquisition and working capital financings, recapitalizations, refinancings and other complex financial transactions. He is experienced with secured asset-based and cash-flow loan transactions, first-lien/second-lien, split-lien and unitranche structures, and mezzanine and hybrid lending products.

Mr. Swartout frequently represents lenders in international financings involving multiple jurisdictions. He has been engaged in transactions with borrowers from numerous industries, including manufacturing, technology, software, business services, healthcare and agriculture business.

Mr. Swartout's published articles include:

• "Ready, Set, Disclose? ESG Lending and The Middle Market," co-authored with Jeffrey Dunlop and published in The Secured Lender, Oct. 2021.
• "Security Interests and Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code," co-authored with Joel Brown and published in the Banking and Finance module of the "Lexis Practice Advisor®," 2014.

Mr. Swartout joined Goldberg Kohn in May 2012. He is a Member of the firm's Recruiting and Technology committees.

He received his law degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2011. While in law school, he was a Senior Editor of the Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business. He was awarded the Raoul Berger Prize by the law faculty for his work on "Complexity and the Nature of Rules," which was selected as the best paper written in the Owen L. Coon/James A. Rahl Senior Research Program. He received his B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Saint John Fisher College in 2007.

Mr. Swartout is admitted to practice law in Illinois.

Representative Matters

• Represented administrative agent in connection with $98 million senior secured credit facilities to provide financing for the acquisition of certain divisions of an international manufacturing firm based in Switzerland, including the documentation of guaranties and perfection on collateral in Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Hong Kong and Bermuda.
• Represented administrative agent in providing $215 million asset-based, multi-currency revolving loan facility to affiliated U.S., Canadian, Dutch and U.K. borrowers as part of a split-lien financing totaling $330 million.
• Represented administrative agent and term lender in providing $35 million term loan facilities as part of $95 million split-lien acquisition financing to a provider of marketing and staging services for retail stores.
• Represented first-out lender and administrative agent in connection with $203 million unitranche credit facility to finance the acquisition of a manufacturing business and subsequent add-on acquisitions.
• Represented U.S. administrative agent in connection with $36 million senior secured credit facilities advanced in the U.S. and the Netherlands in support of the acquisition of German and Hungarian entities by a U.S. specialty chemical company, including drafting and negotiating a novel intercreditor agreement to provide for risk-sharing by U.S. and European lenders.
• Represented administrative agent in $160 million credit facility to provide financing for the leveraged buy-out of a leading fruit processing company and subsequent add-on acquisitions.
• Represented first-out lender and administrative agent in the provision of $66 million unitranche credit facility to a leading hospitality services company.
• Represented administrative agent in $35 million revolving and term loan facilities to a provider of call center software and technology solutions.