About Kumar Tewari

Kumar leads the Banking team in the London office. He has spent almost two decades practicing as a debt finance lawyer, including nearly 10 years working directly in the banking industry as the head of the legal department, and also in a commercial role as director, at Lloyds Banking Group plc in London. Today, he draws on that vast experience by advising a range of clients on a broad spectrum of domestic and cross-border debt-finance matters.

An authority on intercreditor arrangements

Kumar represents global banks, alternative/direct lenders, investors and sponsors across different levels of the debt capital stack, particularly on senior/mezzanine loan structures, which involve complex intercreditor arrangements. He regularly advises on cross-border private credit transactions, often involving structured (leveraged) or general corporate lending, as well as traditional secured asset classes such as real estate or aircraft financing and leasing. He is widely respected in the UK as a leading attorney on such transactions, having helped establish the LMA Intercreditor Agreement for real estate finance transactions in 2014. His experience of working on complex intercreditor arrangements also includes advising on stretched-senior, senior-secured second lien and secured mezzanine/subordinated notes. He also advises on unitranche, synthetic mezzanine loans and preferred equity arrangements.

In addition to leading the legal department at Lloyd's Banking Group plc, Kumar also worked as a banker within loan distribution/capital markets. His deep understanding of investment and credit risk explains his ability to consistently find agile and innovative commercial solutions to facilitate trade. This includes his development of a secondary loan review due diligence product that provides a unique "x-ray" analysis of loan documents in a data room. The system provides crucial information to asset managers (CLOs), direct lenders and banks buying, warehousing or trading debt in the secondary market, and allows them to take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities. Offering that kind of legal counsel gives Kumar's clients a unique commercial edge in the market.

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Practice Focus

  • Real estate finance (including leveraged investment and development finance)
  • Mid-market finance (investment/leveraged/acquisition finance)
  • Debt and private credit funds (with a particular focus of direct lending)
  • CLOs/CDOs
  • Fixed income, bonds (including CBMS)
  • Secondary debt trading (distressed and par)
  • Funds Finance (LP/GP)
  • Private banking/high-net-worth

News

Publications

Presentations and Events

Practices
Industries
Bar Admissions
  • England and Wales
Community Involvements
  • CRE Finance Council (CREFC)
  • International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT)
  • Loan Market Association
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • The Legal 500 United Kingdom
    Leading Individual, 2019, 2021–2022, 2024
  • Legal Business
    Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year Award, 2015
    50 Elite Legal Teams, 2015
    GC Powerlist Rising Star, 2014
  • Lexology Global Counsel Awards
    European In-House Lawyer of the Year, 2017
Award Methodologies