Stephen Castro
Head of Finance, United States
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Related services and key industries
Biography
H. Stephen Castro is a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright's New York office and focuses his practice on the financial services sector. He represents administrative agents, collateral agents, lenders, borrowers, hedge funds and other financial institutions in sophisticated financing matters across a wide range of industries. Those matters include secured and unsecured financings, working capital facilities, debtor-in-possession facilities, Chapter 11 exit facilities, letter of credit facilities, and receivables financing facilities.
Stephen regularly represents participants in all aspects of distressed investing and restructuring matters, including in-court and out-of-court restructurings and workouts. Stephen also has extensive experience advising multinational financial institutions on the wide range of issues confronting creditors, including structuring lending transactions, strategies for the conversion of debt to equity, restructuring debt acquired at a discount and asset dispositions in the insolvency context.
Professional experience
Collapse allJD, Fordham University School of Law, 1998
BA, magna cum laude, Hunter College of The City University of New York, 1994
- New York State Bar
- Represented the administrative agent in connection with a $1 billion commodity accordion facility extended to Talen Energy Supply, LLC, a power generation and infrastructure company based in North America, in a chapter 11 restructuring.
- Represented an ad hoc group of lenders and noteholders in connection with its restructuring efforts related to two CLOs managed by an international investment bank.
- Represented the first lien agent for Pipeline Foods, an international organic grain logistics company, in the company's chapter 11 cases.
- Represented a downstream energy company in connection with a $1.5 billion working capital facility and a separate $1 billion letter of credit facility.
- Represented the administrative agent in connection with an $80 million ABL revolving credit facility extended to a wine importer.
- Represented the administrative agent for the term lenders in connection with a first lien term loan credit facility, a debtor-in-possession term loan credit facility and an exit term loan credit facility extended to Payless ShoeSource and the Payless ShoeSource chapter 11 cases.
- Represented various European banks in connection with their supply chain finance facilities.
- Represented the administrative agent for the ABL lenders in connection with an asset based credit facility and a debtor-in-possession credit facility extended to RadioShack, and the RadioShack chapter 11 case involving the sale of collateral, payment in full to the ABL lenders and ensuing intercreditor litigation.
- Represented the syndicate agent and steering committee in the restructuring of a $795 million credit facility extended to a global outsourcing and data management company.
- Represented the syndicate agent and steering committee in the restructuring and ultimate payment in full of a $555 million credit facility extended to Preferred Proppants, LLC, a North American mining company.
- Represented the syndicate agent and a group of lenders on $125 million first and second lien credit facilities extended to a manufacturer of custom-engineered metal and plastic components.
- Represented the administrative agent for a large lending syndicate in an out-of-court restructuring accomplished through the subordination of existing private placement notes and the orderly sale of certain assets.
- Represented a private equity fund that acquired all outstanding loans under an asset based credit facility extended to a printed circuit board manufacturer in connection with its extension of debtor-in-possession financing.
- Represented the bondholders relating to O'Hare International Airport in connection with their negotiation of approximately $150 million in senior convertible notes in the United Airlines bankruptcy proceedings.
- Represented the administrative agent and lender in connection with its consensual foreclosure of a CDO portfolio pledged as collateral for a secured credit facility.
- Legal 500 US, recommended lawyer, Finance-restructuring (including bankruptcy)-corporate, The Legal 500, 2017
- Guest Speaker, "Legal Issues Currently Facing the Banking Industry," Young President's Organization, November 17, 2023
- Guest Speaker, "A Primer on Bankruptcy in the United States", Alter Domus (US) LLC, July 11, 2018