Robert (Robin) Childress Jones, Jr.
Partner

Mr. Joneshas extensive experience in a broad range of complex financial and commercial transactions, including real estate finance, mezzanine lending, workouts and restructurings, banking transactions, mergers and acquisitions, structured finance, leveraged leasing, project finance, investment transactions and supply contracts. He has deep experience in structuring multi-stack deals and relating intercreditor relationships, and has been qualified as an expert on mezzanine lending, intercreditor agreements and structured finance in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in February 2009.

Mr. Jones' transactional experience spans a wide range of industries, including real estate; technology; communications; financial services, energy and mining; government contracting; aircraft and shipping; and publishing and printing; as well as consumer goods and industrial companies ranging from dental products to cosmetics to textiles to steel.

Mr. Jones has frequently spoken and moderated industry panels on real estate mezzanine financing, with a particular experience in intercreditor agreements, multi-tranche subordination and intercreditor arrangements and workout situations. He has a key role in many of the largest and most complex mezzanine lending transactions in recent years, including the Blackstone-Hilton acquisition, the JER-Highland Hospitality acquisition, the John Hancock Building in Chicago, 666 Fifth Avenue in NY, an 11-building office portfolio for Whitehall, four casinos in Las Vegas for Station Casinos, the Paul Stuart building in NY, the Citibank headquarters in Los Angeles, a 35-story office building adjacent to the Universal Studios theme park /Vivendi-Universal movie studio in Los Angeles, a 70-story office tower in Dallas, the Marriott Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, the South Beach Ritz-Carlton in Miami, the Four Seasons Hotel in Nevis and the Shutters and Casa del Mar hotels in Santa Monica. Mr. Jones has also been involved in major warehouse loan facilities and individual seller financing transactions for the acquisition of mezzanine loans.

Mr. Jones also has more than 25 years of experience in workout and restructuring transactions in a broad range of industries, from real estate (including the $1.4 billion successful restructuring of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and a number of mezzanine loan transactions) to telecommunications (most recently for a leading global telecommunications partner) to energy to financial services and insurance, as well as a wide range of industrial companies making products ranging from tractors to textiles to dental supplies. In such workout and restructuring transactions, Mr. Jones has utilized his broad knowledge and experience in lending transactions, subordination and intercreditor relationships to deal with complex multi-party and multi-creditor situations, multiple tiers of lenders and specialized financing structures such as mezzanine lending and leveraged leases, and has worked closely with specialist regulatory and bankruptcy counsel.

He has been involved in many international transactions (including engagement and supervision of local counsel) involving England, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Antilles, El Salvador, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, the Sechelles, Dubai, the UAE and Australia, and worked with the European Banking Association in connection with the clearing arrangements for the Euro.

Mr. Jones also has significant internal legal management experience (including corporate strategy, litigation management, trademark and trade name protection, personnel and compensation issues and company administration), including work for The Blackstone Group (1988-1990, including formation of The Blackstone Group and its operating companies, providing for the relationship between the Blackstone partners, including the founders, and the $100MM Nikko investment in Blackstone) and for William E. Simon & Sons (1990-1993, including workout of unsuccessful investments and the S&L crisis), as well as vendor and supply contracts for Cravath, Swaine & Moore as well as workouts of real estate investments for Cravath partner investors.

Prior to joining Pillsbury, Mr. Jones practiced for 18 years with Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, and with Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson in Charlotte, NC, for five years.

American Bar Association; The District of Columbia Bar; New York Bar Association; North Carolina Bar Association

"Mezzanine Lender Perspective: The Real Estate Mezzanine Lender & Senior Lender Workout Guide: The Good, The Bad & (Preventing) The Ugly", panel participant, 6th Annual West Coast Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, Los Angeles, CA, April 2009.

"Borrower & Real Estate Mezzanine Lender Workouts: Case Studies", panel participant, 6th Annual West Coast Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, Los Angeles, CA, April 2009.

"Managing a Workout Today: Crucial Steps to a Successful Renegotiation of an Existing Loan," Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum, Information Management Network, Laguna Beach, CA, January 2009.

 "Intercreditor Agreements and Their Recent Evolution", moderator, 8th Annual Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, New York, NY, December 2008.

"Financing Your Mezz Position", moderator, 8th Annual Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, New York, NY, December 2008.

"Intercreditor Agreements and Their Recent Evolution", panel participant, 5th Annual West Coast Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, Los Angeles, CA, April 2008.

"Negotiations & The Intercreditor Agreement In Today's Environment", moderator, 7th Annual Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, New York, NY, November 2007.

"Deal Structuring & Loan Negotiation", panel participant, 4th Annual West Coast Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, Los Angeles, CA, April 2007.

"Negotiations and Intercreditor Agreements", panel participant, 6th Annual Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, New York, NY, December 2006.

"Negotiations and Intercreditor Agreements", moderator, 3rd Annual West Coast Borrowers' & Investors' Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans, Los Angeles, CA, May 2006.