Steven J. Ryan

Mezzanine and Junior Capital Finance
Steve regularly represents mezzanine funds and other junior capital providers in connection with their debt and equity investments, including unitranche and second-lien financings. During the past two decades, he has represented fund clients on dozens of subordinated debt and equity investments, ranging from $2 million to in excess of $100 million. These transactions have involved manufacturers and service providers in a wide variety of industries, including engineering, agricultural, technology and service.

Professional Sports & Stadiums
Steve counsels professional sports teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Wild on real estate, financing and other related projects.

He represented the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in connection with the financing, development and operation of U.S. Bank Stadium, a $1.1 billion, 66,000 seat multi-use facility located in downtown Minneapolis. Steve also represented the team and its ownership on their 194-acre mixed-use development of the former Northwest Airlines Headquarters site in Eagan, Minn. The project included the financing and construction of TCO Performance Center, the Viking’s state-of-the-art headquarters and training facility, and a 356,000 square foot, 320 room conference-center hotel.

Steve also served as counsel to MLB’s Minnesota Twins in the issuance of an aggregate $210 million in project revenue bonds used to finance the development and construction of Target Field, a $550 million, 40,000 seat professional baseball stadium also located in downtown Minneapolis. This representation included advice on structuring the transaction as a project financing; the creation of a new bankruptcy-remote entity to hold certain ballpark-related assets pledged to support the credit; the negotiation of financing agreements and supporting agreements with various governmental entities and the issuance of legal opinions, including a non-consolidation opinion.

Real Estate Financing and Investment
Steve regularly represents real estate industry clients, including public and private real estate investment trusts (REITs), in connection with financings and other capital markets transactions. Representative transactions include representation of a private REIT in connection with a $200 million convertible debt facility and representation of a public REIT in connection with a $450 million unsecured term and revolving loan facility.

Commercial and Corporate Finance
Steve represents lenders and corporate borrowers in complex commercial finance transactions, including working capital and asset-based financing; franchise finance; agricultural finance; and construction, bridge and permanent real estate loan financings.

Loan Restructuring and Workouts
Steve has represented a number of financial institutions and corporate lenders in loan restructuring and workouts and creditors’ rights and remedies issues.

Banking Law and Regulation
Steve advises state and federally chartered financial institutions on the regulatory requirements of the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC and state regulatory agencies. He has represented bank holding companies with change in control and nonbanking activity notifications under Regulation Y and has served as lead counsel to financial institutions in several mergers and acquisitions, including a $1 billion asset financial institution in its merger with an out-of-state acquirer.

Steve plays an instrumental role in managing the firm’s efforts to provide pro bono services to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

Steve received his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He received his law degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was associate articles editor and business administrator for the Minnesota Law Review. He joined Briggs (now Taft) in 1994.