Davis Polk secured top rankings in the H1 2025 syndicated and private credit lending league tables from LSEG LPC, Bloomberg, Debtwire and KBRA Direct Lending Deals. 

According to LSEG LPC, Davis Polk advised lenders and borrowers on over 140 syndicated loan financings totaling more than $270 billion, ranking in the top five in 18 of 22 global and U.S. syndicated loan categories – including #1 advisor to lead arrangers and bookrunners for global overall, U.S. overall and U.S. acquisition financings by deal volume.

Debtwire reports that Davis Polk advised on 50% of the largest leveraged loan deals in H1 2025. Commenting on the results, Davis Polk partner and Finance practice head Jason Kyrwood said, “We have a really comprehensive platform. If there’s a transaction out there that could pivot between direct lending and syndicated, or may have a whole business securitization or infrastructure-related component, we can do all of that with excellence and at scale.” The practice also handles back leverage, preferred equity, other types of hybrid capital and cross-border work.

Discussing how the year started, Jason noted, “The first quarter was helped by the fact that there was a lot of overhang from last year. We had this real burst of activity right around the election. As soon as the election was over…we started getting calls on new deals.”

Additionally, Jason mentioned that he is cautiously optimistic that the long-awaited buyout cycle may materialize soon, “I’ve been saying for a while now – and I’m far from the only one – that there is a tsunami of LBO activity coming, I just don’t know when. I’m starting to see some signs that make me feel optimistic that there may be more LBO activity in the second half, but the uncertainties that we are all living with right now make it hard to have conviction around that timeline.” 

Highlights of Davis Polk’s H1 2025 league table rankings include:

LSEG LPC

  • #1 Global lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. M&A overall (lender + borrower) counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. M&A lender counsel by volume

Bloomberg

  • #1 Global lender counsel by volume
  • #1 Global acquisition lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. lender counsel by volume and deal count
  • #1 U.S. new money lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. acquisition lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. LBO lender counsel by volume
  • #1 U.S. investment grade lender counsel by volume and deal count
  • #1 U.S. investment grade borrower counsel by volume and deal count

Debtwire

  • #1 North America M&A leveraged lender counsel by volume
  • #1 North America buyout leveraged lender counsel by volume and deal count
  • #1 North America M&A institutional lender counsel by volume and deal count
  • #1 North America buyout institutional lender counsel by volume and deal count

KBRA Direct Lending Deals

  • #2 U.S. direct lending lender counsel by deal count
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