Paul D. Tropp
Partner
Paul Tropp is a co-head of Ropes & Gray’s capital markets group in New York. He represents issuers and underwriters in a wide range of corporate finance transactions, including initial and follow-on public offerings; transactions involving convertible, high-yield and investment-grade bonds; debt tenders and consents; private placements; and selling-shareholder deals. In addition, Paul advises independent boards of directors and financial advisors.
Paul’s practice has a particular focus on specialty finance enterprises such as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), business development companies (BDCs) and mortgage REITs, as well as asset managers.
Consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by sources such as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, IFLR and The Legal 500, Paul headed the New York capital markets practice of a global law firm before joining Ropes & Gray in 2018.
Experience
- Represented KKR Acquisition Holdings I Corp. in its $1.38 billion IPO.
- Represented TCV Acquisition Corp. in its $400 million IPO.
- Represented the underwriters in the debut bond offering and multiple subsequent debt offerings for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, worth an aggregate of over $1 billion.
- Represented the underwriters in the $575 million IPO for Liberty Media Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $357 million IPO for Conyers Park III Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $250 million IPO for Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $400 million IPO for TPG Pace Beneficial II Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $285 million IPO for TPG Pace Solutions Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $350 million IPO for TPG Pace Beneficial Finance Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the underwriters in the $450 million IPO for TPG Pace Tech Opportunities Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $4 billion IPO for Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $287 million IPO for nCino, a software-as-a-service company for financial institutions.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $805 million IPO for Nuvei Corporation, a global provider of payment technology solutions.
- Represented Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in its $690 million IPO.
- Represented Altimeter Growth Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in its $500 million IPO.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $150 million IPO for Owl Rock Capital Corporation, a business development company.
- Represented the lead underwriters in two high yield notes offerings worth an aggregate of $500 million for Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $152 million IPO for Bain Capital Specialty Finance, a business development company specializing in direct loans to middle-market companies.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $400 million IPO for Gores Metropoulos, Inc., a specialty purpose acquisition company.
- Represented the lead underwriters in two follow-on offerings worth an aggregate of $1.5 billion for Annaly Capital Management, a diversified capital manager that invests in and finances residential and comme underwriters in two senior unsecured notes offerings worth an aggregate of $350 million for Sixth Street Specialty Lending, a business development company.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $100 million senior subordinated cumulative preferred shares offering for Compass Diversified Holdings.
- Represented the lead underwriters in the $125 million convertibles notes offering for Granite Point Mortgage Trust, a commercial real estate debt investor in the United States.
Publications
- Quoted, “Capital Markets Activity Plunged to Earth in 2022,” Law360 (December 16, 2022)
- Quoted, “SEC May Face Legal Challenge to New SPAC Rules,” The Deal (November 21, 2022)
- Quoted, “SEC’s Proposed SPAC Crackdown Meets Industry Resistance,” Law360 (June 22, 2022)
- Profiled, “Capital Markets Group of the Year: Ropes & Gray,” Law360 (February 9, 2022)
- Quoted, “3 Hurdles That Could Slow The Pace Of SPACs In 2022,” Law360 (January 3, 2022)
- Quoted, “SPACs Churn Out Restatements, Again, to Correct Accounting,” Bloomberg Law (November 23, 2021)
- Quoted, “The SPAC Explosion Dimmed But Law Firms Are Still Cashing Checks,” Bloomberg Law (July 26, 2021)
- Quoted, “Pervasive SPAC Accounting Error Prompts Mass Restatements,” Bloomberg Law (July 26, 2021)
- Quoted, “U.S. IPOs hit annual record in less than six months,” Reuters (June 15, 2021)
- Quoted, “As SEC Focuses on SPACs, Conflicts Come to the Fore,” Private Equity Law Report (June 15, 2021)
- Profiled, “State of SPAC Market,” Nasdaq Trade Talks video (April 10, 2021)
- Quoted, “2 Firms Edge Out Peers As IPO Market Endures SPAC Slump,” Law360 (May 4, 2021)
- Quoted, “Accounting issue opens 'Pandora's box' of possible SPAC financial restatements,” S&P Global Market Intelligence (May 3, 2021)
- Quoted, “SPAC to the Future: Law Firms Are Riding the Wave as Interest Explodes,” The American Lawyer and Law.com (March 25, 2021)
- Quoted, “SPACs Power Another Record-Breaking Month For IPOs,” Law360 (March 1, 2021)
- Quoted, “The Growth of SPACs and Their Impact on Law Firms,” Reuters Legal Video (January 27, 2021)
- Quoted, “3 Questions Looming For The 2021 IPO Market,” Law360 (January 3, 2021)
- Quoted, “NYSE wins back listing crown from Nasdaq after luring Spacs,” Financial Times (November 1, 2020)
- Profiled, “Meet 16 bankers, lawyers, and capital providers helping engineer a $40 billion black-check craze that’s fast-tracking companies to public markets,” Business Insider (October 1, 2020)
- Quoted, “Big Law Firms Scramble to Cash in on Blank-Check Bonanza,” Bloomberg Law (September 23, 2020)
- Quoted, “Law firms could make hundreds of millions of dollars on the SPAC boom, as elite firms elbow in on a growing market,” Business Insider (September 17, 2020)
- Quoted, “SPACs: What are they, and are they here to stay?,” Financial News (September 15, 2020)
- Quoted, “3 Trends To Watch As Fall IPO Pipeline Gets Ready To Burst,” Law360 (September 4, 2020)
- Quoted, “SPACs are just getting started,” The New York Times (August 25, 2020)
- Profiled, “Finance, Banking & Capital Markets Trailblazers,” The National Law Journal (October 2019)
- Quoted, “No Summer Break Yet As 10 Firms Ready 9 IPOs For Market,” Law360 (July 12, 2019)
- Quoted, “Government Shutdown Means 'Uncharted Territory' for IPOs,” The Street (January 11, 2019)
- Quoted, “14 Firms To Steer 8 IPOs Topping $3B As Busy Autumn Nears,” Law360 (September 14, 2018)
Education
- JD, New York University School of Law, 1996
- BA, Harvard College, 1993
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- New York, 1997
Awards
- Legal 500 (2020)
- FinanceAsia, Best Singapore Deal, $173 million SC Health Corp IPO on NYSE (2020)
- IFLR 1000 (2019-2023)
- Chambers USA (2019-2022)
- Chambers Global (2020-2022)
- The National Law Journal, “Finance, Banking & Capital Markets Trailblazer” (2019)