John Cahill advises on the full spectrum of real estate financing matters, guiding clients through complex, often cross-border transactions involving hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real estate, and venture structures. He focuses in particular on the back-leverage market, working with real estate funds and other investment vehicles to structure and execute financing solutions aligned with their capital strategies.
A significant portion of John’s practice has been built in Asia, where he advises on the formation of real estate private equity funds, as well as capital raising and related M&A activity. Working across jurisdictions including Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, China, and Korea, he helps sponsors navigate local requirements and execute transactions across multiple markets.
John represents major financial institutions, private equity sponsors, and institutional investors in domestic and cross-border commercial transactions. His work includes advising investment banks, insurance companies, development companies, and other institutional lenders on the structuring and formation of real estate investment platforms, as well as the raising of equity and debt capital to support those platforms.
In the structured credit space, John advises on a range of financing arrangements for institutional investors, including commercial mortgage-backed securities, A/B note structures, repurchase facilities, corporate credit lines, subscription facilities, mezzanine financings, preferred equity investments, convertible debt, and commercial loans. He also has experience structuring joint ventures for private equity funds, venture capital firms, and pension investors in connection with the acquisition, financing, and development of commercial real estate projects.
Across these matters, John has worked on transactions involving a wide range of commercial property types throughout the United States and Asia, including office towers, regional and super-regional shopping centers, hotels, casinos, resorts, large-scale residential condominiums, and mixed-use developments. His experience also includes the development, acquisition, financing, and operation of hotel and resort assets, as well as related branding, repositioning, workout, and restructuring matters
Representative Experiene
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Represented multiple private equity funds in subscription credit facilities ranging from $50 million to $1.25 billion.
- Advised a private equity fund in a joint venture with a Hong Kong-listed company to co-sponsor a China distressed debt fund.
- Represented a private equity fund in a joint venture for the acquisition of a Japanese public company.
- Advised a fund advisor in a $200 million equity restructuring and exit from a China joint venture with a Hong Kong-listed company.
- Represented a private equity fund in $2 billion in corporate debt transactions.
- Advised a private equity firm in the restructuring of its hotel franchise agreement across China.
- Represented Arch Capital Partners in Fund V.
- Represented Star Asia in all of its distressed debt funds for Japan.
- Represented multiple private equity funds in connection with global master repurchase credit facilities relating to REIT bonds.
Proessional & Civic Engagement
- The Game Conservancy USA, Inc., President and Chairman of the Board of Directors
- The Leash, Assistant Secretary and Governor
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by The Legal 500 in Real Estate, 2020-2021, 2023
