Drafting and Negotiating Credit Agreements for Lending Transactions

This course provides a general introduction to credit agreements and the role that credit agreements play in commercial lending transactions.  Participants will learn the basic structure of a credit agreement and will explore the purpose of each section of the credit agreement.  Participants will become familiar with terms often negotiated in a credit agreement by the parties.  The course will also explore the various methods used to amend a credit agreement, and participants will gain experience drafting an amended and restated credit agreement.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the central role of the credit agreement as the basic roadmap for the lender-borrower relationship;
• Understand the sections of a credit agreement;
• Be familiar with certain terms often negotiated in a credit agreement and typical comments to a credit agreement made by the borrower, the lender and their respective counsels;
• Understand how the parties may change the credit agreement over time via amendments and the role of a junior attorney in drafting and revising the credit agreement, exhibits, and amendments;
• Incorporate terms from a term sheet into a draft amended and restated credit agreement.

Students are presented with an institutional lender that has reached an agreement with a borrower regarding the terms of an amendment to an existing loan. The lender has requested an amended and restated credit agreement. Students are asked to (i) prepare the initial draft of the amended and restated credit agreement and (ii) provide a comparison of your draft to the existing credit agreement to aid the senior associate in reviewing the changes made.

2 CLE Credits is available for each course.