Melissa Messina is a sixth year associate in the firm's Baltimore office and a member of the firm's Transactional Finance Practice Group and Recruitment and Technology Committees. Melissa practices in the areas of public and commercial finance regularly representing banks, mezzanine lenders, issuers, underwriters, developers and trustees in various types of financial transactions.
In her commercial finance practice, Melissa's clients include national and regional financial institutions and mezzanine lenders. In representing her clients, Melissa documents, negotiates and closes asset-based, acquisition, middle market, private banking and real estate finance transactions.
As a public finance practitioner, Melissa represents issuers, underwriters, developers, borrowers and trustees in a variety of tax-exempt bond financings in Maryland and elsewhere. She is frequently involved in land-based infrastructure transactions, including special taxing district, community development authority and tax increment finance bonds. She was extensively involved in serving as bond counsel in one of Maryland's largest public-private partnership bond issues and has played a substantial role in over 30 other bond transactions over the past five years.
Melissa also serves as general counsel for two local non-profit organizations and is a member of the Maryland Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, the Council of Development Finance Agencies and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.
Credentials
Georgetown Immigration Law Journal: Articles & Line Editor (2004-2005); Staff (2003-2004)
Representative Matters
We represented JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. on the financing of a tender offer for a publicly traded U.S.-based company, which manufactures hydraulics and has subsidiaries in over 15 countries. The credit facilities included direct revolving loans and term loans to the target's U.K., German and Spanish subsidiaries which were denominated in Sterling or Euros and were secured by foreign subsidiary assets and collateral located in France and Korea. The lender also extended an EXIMBANK-Guaranteed Working Capital Line of Credit to the U.S. Parent to finance exports. A subordinated debt facility was extended by an affiliate of the lender and subordinated to the senior credit facilities. These credit facilities have been restructured on three occasions to accommodate financing for the borrower's acquisition two domestic businesses in related industries and a recent leveraged recapitalization.