Tara E. Castillo

• Negotiated the timeshare receivables financing and securitization aspects of an acquisition resulting in the largest upper upscale and luxury timeshare operator in a stock-based transaction with an equity value of approximately $1.4 billion, as finance counsel to the acquiror.
• Counsel to a financial institution in the purchase and sale of a credit card receivables portfolio and certain other securitization assets relating to a $2 billion public credit card securitization program.
• Represented a U.S. finance subsidiary of a global automobile manufacturer in its public auto securitization program and executed 29 public auto securitization transactions totaling $35 billion.
• Represented a senior lender in a $100 million syndicated financing facility of online marketplace consumer loans and credit card receivables.
• Counsel to a publicly traded consumer finance company in its warehouse and 144A securitization program involving hard-secured and soft-secured consumer loans.
• Counsel to a publicly traded timeshare finance company in its warehouse and 144A securitization program involving timeshare receivables.
• Represented a senior lender in a credit facility to an online platform secured by personal loans to physicians and dentists.
• Represented a senior lender in a credit facility secured by motorcycle leases.
• Counsel to a finance company in its securitization of retail installment contracts repaid by payroll deduction.
• Represented the lead arranger and administrative agent in a $350 million senior secured floorplan credit facility relating to certain eligible new, used, and rental recreational vehicles.

Tara Eliza Castillo, chair of the Structured & Warehouse Finance Team, is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Finance Group. Tara focuses her practice on warehouse finance, structured finance, securitizations, and other asset-backed transactions. She represents borrowers, issuers, lenders, placement agents, underwriters, and other industry participants across a broad spectrum of asset classes, including auto loans and leases, consumer loans, credit card receivables, floorplan loans, merchant cash advance loans, online marketplace loans, and timeshare receivables. Tara also advises on the receivables financing aspects of large industry mergers and acquisitions.

Tara is a frequent industry speaker and has served as a guest lecturer at both the Universidad Diego Portales and Universidad de Chile law schools in Santiago, Chile, on securitization and structured finance. She is the author of the chapters “Securitization Readiness Considerations for Consumer Finance Companies,” “Auto Loan Securitizations” and “Timeshare Loan Securitizations” in the treatise Securitization: Legal and Regulatory Issues.

Tara’s work has earned her recognition as a leading securitization lawyer. She is listed in Chambers Global and Chambers USA in Capital Markets: Securitisation, named in the 2019 - 2022 editions of The Best Lawyers in America^© in securitization and structured finance law, and recognized as one of Law360’s “Top Attorneys Under 40” in capital markets. Tara is co-chair of the Structured Finance Association’s Women in Securitization Networking & Engagement Committee.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York

Education

• American University (J.D., 2007)
• New York University (M.A., 2003)
• American University (B.A., 2002)

Memberships