For more than four decades, C. Wayne Davis has helped lenders, corporate borrowers, and private funds structure and close complex commercial and real estate finance transactions. Wayne focuses on transactions involving sophisticated capital structures, senior and subordinated debt, and distressed or special-situations financing.
Wayne’s practice centers on representing corporations and limited liability companies—both public and private—as well as financial institutions and private funding entities, including mezzanine funds, in a wide range of corporate and real estate financings, acquisitions, and other corporate matters. He guides Mid-Atlantic lenders and corporate borrowers through senior secured credit facilities ranging from middle-market loans to large, multi-lender transactions approaching the billion-dollar range.
His experience spans transactions involving commercial real estate portfolios, mixed-use properties, and other income-producing assets, with a particular emphasis on real estate finance rather than development. Wayne also advises private mezzanine and family office funds on structuring, negotiating, and documenting subordinated debt investments, with a focus on aligning risk allocation, remedies, and intercreditor arrangements across the capital stack.
Over the course of his career, Wayne has handled financings and acquisitions across diverse industries. His transactional experience includes the acquisition and financing of television broadcasting stations, a professional sports team, automotive dealerships, national and local fitness enterprises, aircraft, and thoroughbred horses. He also has experience with large, complex government-related transactions, including serving as special legal counsel to outside consultants to the United States Navy and United States Air Force on military base privatization projects, including housing privatizations with an aggregate value in the multibillion-dollar range.
Before entering private practice, Wayne spent 11 years in the banking industry. Drawing on his combined years in the financial and legal sectors, he is known for thorough, practical documentation and for translating business objectives into clear, workable deal terms. Clients rely on him to anticipate lender and investor expectations, identify pressure points early in the process, and keep transactions moving efficiently from term sheet to closing.
- University of Baltimore School of Law (J.D.)
- Johns Hopkins University (B.A.)
- Maryland
- Advisory Board for Capital Bank, N.A - Baltimore region
- Best Lawyers 2021-present
