News

Mergers and acquisitions expert John H. Butler joined Sidley Austin as a partner in New York and member of the law firm’s global M&A and Private Equity practice.

Crestline Direct Lending acted as administrative agent and joint lead arranger on a senior secured credit facility for Schweiger Dermatology Group.

Ulmer & Berne elected four partners to the firm: John F. Bennett in Cincinnati, Ronald S. Betman and Heidi E. VonderHeide in Chicago and Nicholas B. Wille.

ConnectOne Bancorp, parent company of ConnectOne Bank, completed its merger with Greater Hudson Bank.

Amerisource Business Capital closed and funded a $4 million credit facility for an oil field services company based in Oklahoma.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $575 million to settle civil claims with all 50 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia over its previous problematic retail sales practices, auto insurance and mortgage interest rate lock matters.

Ares Management closed its inaugural, commingled U.S. senior direct lending fund with approximately $3 billion in total commitments, a significant oversubscription of its initial $2 billion target.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ESL Investments, the hedge fund run by former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert, submitted a $4.4 billion bid to keep Sears afloat, coming in just under the wire before Friday’s filing deadline.

SunTrust Bank acted as both administrative and collateral agent on a $130 million increase to Priority Tehcnology’s senior secured credit facility in support of the company’s acquisition of certain merchant portfolio assets.

According to a report from CNBC, Sears chairman Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund, ESL Investments, only have until the end of the day today to officially submit a bid to buyout and potentially save the 125-year-old Sears company.