Peter C. Butcher, an experienced debt finance lawyer who represents major financial institutions and companies in a broad array of transactions, has joined McGuireWoods’ debt finance practice as a partner in the firm’s Pittsburgh office.
Butcher helps structure and negotiate debt financing transactions on behalf of both financial institutions and borrowers. He also assists major energy firms and other public and private companies in raising capital through syndicated, multicurrency, cross-border debt, and commodity financings. Butcher’s practice includes secured transactions, merger and acquisition financing, asset-based financing, leveraged finance and project finance.
Butcher also has experience in international banking, offshore finance and trade finance. In addition to representing borrowers in the energy and commodity industries, he has advised clients in the manufacturing, distribution, real estate, mining, telecommunications, healthcare and high-tech sectors, among others.
“Peter is a key addition to our team as we continue to build our debt finance capability in Pittsburgh and throughout the Northeast,” said Raj Natarajan, chair of McGuireWoods’ debt finance practice. “His impressive range of experience handling deals for financial institutions and public and private companies will have tremendous benefits for our clients.”
Butcher comes to McGuireWoods from the Pittsburgh office of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. His arrival reunites him with Pittsburgh-based debt finance partner Penny Zacharias and counsel Victoria Archer, who teamed with Butcher to represent banks in a wide range of transactions before moving to McGuireWoods in 2015. Butcher has handled deals for clients such as Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, Bank of America and Citizens Bank.
“We’re delighted to welcome Peter to the firm,” said David Hornyak, managing partner of the firm’s Pittsburgh office. “He will be an important player in bolstering our debt finance practice here in Pittsburgh and his experience enhances our ability to serve clients nationwide.”
Butcher earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University in 1990 and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1995. He is a sought-after speaker who has been invited to lecture at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School of Business on a variety of topics, including contract law, and secured transactions.
“McGuireWoods has one of the nation’s elite debt finance teams and well-deserved reputation for client service excellence,” Butcher said. “The depth and diversity of the McGuireWoods platform will add tremendous value to our clients.”
Butcher joins a practice that consistently ranks among the nation’s best. Through the first three quarters of 2015, McGuireWoods ranked third in number of deals and fifth in dollar volume in Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.’s U.S. Lender Law Firm League Tables for its representation of lead arrangers and bookrunners in syndicated debt financings. The firm recorded 109 transactions valued at $78.7 billion in the first nine months of the year. McGuireWoods has finished each of the last four years ranked among the top 10 U.S. law firms in the league tables that debt finance professionals consider definitive.
McGuireWoods continues to expand its representation of financial institutions with more than 80 debt finance and asset-based lending lawyers in its Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, Richmond and Tysons Corner offices.