Law360, New York (September 9, 2014, 4:09 PM EDT) -- U.S. finance companies, particularly in the mortgage, credit card, student loan and nonprime consumer lending industries, were under stress during the credit crisis, and many of these businesses went bankrupt or were sold, shut down or significantly reorganized. In many cases, the beneficiaries of this shakeout were private equity and hedge funds that specialize in credit opportunities and working out distressed assets and businesses. Moving beyond the crisis, the post-credit crisis era of 2011 to 2013, with its low interest rates and relatively easy access to credit, provided a stable foundation for finance companies to recover, grow and make acquisitions. Recent trends driving specialty finance merger and acquisition transactions will inform the parties' decisions as to how to structure the transaction as discussed below....