Refinancing Signals Confidence
Baker Tilly Advisory Group is moving toward a major refinancing effort, with Deutsche Bank preparing to market close to $3 billion in debt on the firm's behalf. The goal is straightforward: retire private credit loans that were used to finance last year's merger with Moss Adams and replace them with financing drawn from the broader leveraged loan market. Deutsche Bank is expected to sit down with institutional investors as early as next week, though people close to the discussions caution that terms have not yet been finalized. The plan itself speaks to a wider theme playing out across corporate finance, where issuers are once again testing what syndicated markets can offer.
Markets Replace Private Credit
Baker Tilly's merger with Moss Adams closed in April 2025 in a transaction valued at roughly $7 billion, a combination that pushed the firm into the ranks of the six largest accounting practices in the country. Financing that deal required significant private capital, and a lender group headed by Blackstone stepped in with about $1.5 billion, priced at 4.5 percentage points over the benchmark rate. Since Hellman & Friedman acquired the business in 2024, Baker Tilly has kept up an aggressive acquisition pace, most recently adding New York-based Anchin, Block & Anchin last month and Miami-based Berkowitz Pollack Brant back in December. None of the parties involved, including Baker Tilly, Deutsche Bank, or Hellman & Friedman, has commented publicly on the refinancing plans.
Capital Costs Become Strategy
This transaction is unfolding against a backdrop of intensifying competition between banks and private credit managers for leveraged finance mandates. Private lenders have carved out a strong position in recent years by promising quicker execution and greater flexibility, advantages that mattered most for acquisitions too complex or too time-sensitive for traditional syndicated processes. Baker Tilly's decision to test the public markets says a lot on its own. Pricing there has apparently gotten good enough that it now outweighs the speed and flexibility private credit used to offer. If the raise goes through as planned, the firm could move a large portion of its debt away from a handful of private lenders and into the hands of a much wider group of syndicated investors, which would likely bring borrowing costs down and give Baker Tilly more breathing room going forward.
Financing Cycle Evolves
For the market at large, this deal functions as an important signal. It will help gauge how much appetite institutional investors have for leveraged loans tied to professional services firms that have expanded quickly through acquisitions. If demand proves strong, Baker Tilly's refinancing could encourage other companies with similar private credit obligations to consider a similar path back to public debt markets. What began as a financing choice built for speed during an acquisition spree may increasingly give way to one built for cost efficiency as conditions in leveraged finance continue to shift. At InsightSphere, we decode the capital market shifts and financing strategies shaping the next phase of corporate growth.