Lawrence First

Lawrence A. First is the Chief Investment Officer and a Managing Director of Ascribe Capital LLC, which he joined in 2008. Ascribe (originally American Securities Opportunities Management, renamed Ascribe Capital in 2015) pursues a value-based, distressed-debt strategy, investing across the capital structure in middle-market companies experiencing operational, financial, or other stress. First is the firm's investment leader and public face, quoted as CIO on its fund announcements.

Before Ascribe, First was a Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager in Merrill Lynch's Principal Credit Group — a proprietary platform investing the firm's own capital — which he joined in 2003. There he was responsible for evaluating and managing the team's North American portfolio, spanning non-investment-grade bank loans, stressed and distressed fixed-income positions, and public and private equity.

First began his career as a lawyer. From 1987 he practiced in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring department of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, ultimately as a senior partner, representing both debtors and creditors in in-court and out-of-court restructurings, as well as lenders to, investors in, and buyers/sellers of financially troubled companies. This legal-restructuring foundation is central to how he sources and structures distressed-credit deals.

In July 2021, American Securities' credit business (Ascribe Capital) merged with Birch Grove Capital to form AS Birch Grove, a combined credit manager overseeing roughly $5 billion across an opportunistic hedge fund, private-credit vehicles, and CLO structures, led by Birch Grove's Jonathan Berger as CEO/CIO. Around this transition First was party to a multi-year arbitration with American Securities and the Ascribe entities (AAA Case No. 01-22-0002-4465), which reached a Final Award on July 20, 2023 after an April 2023 merits hearing in New York.

• Distressed and value-based credit, not venture. In his own words: *"We … apply our value-based investment approach in a disciplined manner to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns from debt instruments of middle-market companies."* (Fund IV close, Feb. 2019).
• Invests across the capital structure: secured and unsecured debt (including trade claims, bank debt, and bonds), plus equity or equity-like securities; also direct loans, recapitalizations, debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, and exit financings for restructuring plans.
• Partner-to-management posture: long-term capital and a flexible mandate positioned to provide "non-traditional capital solutions" to management teams and co-investors facing complex strategic or operational situations.
• Restructuring-driven edge: First's background as a Fried Frank bankruptcy partner and a Merrill Lynch credit PM means diligence centers on legal/creditor dynamics, intrinsic value versus trading price, and downside protection through the capital structure.