Biography
CORPORATE, MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS, DERIVATIVES
For over two decades, Nina Skinner has been a trusted business adviser and lawyer to privately-held and public companies. Nina takes a business-minded approach to the practice of law and is appreciated for her practical and pragmatic strategies for negotiating and closing the full array of corporate transactions and initiatives, including:
- Mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings representing both buyers and sellers in strategic and financial transactions
- Joint ventures
- Derivatives transactions and related regulatory (Dodd-Frank Act and EMIR) compliance, negotiating ISDA, and other trade agreements
- Corporate finance, including secured and unsecured commercial lending transactions and Uniform Commercial Code matters
- Private placements
- Corporate governance and compliance matters
- Company-wide policies and procedures such as social media, document retention, and code of ethics and business conduct
- Entity formations, including partnerships and limited liability companies
- Cross-border entry into the U.S. market
- Commercial contracts and operational agreements
Nina’s engagements span a range of industries such as the energy (upstream, midstream, and downstream), industrials, chemicals, manufacturing, professional services, commodities markets, telecommunications, consumer products, information management, engineered products, and commercial real estate sectors.
Experience
- Represented the owner of a privately held geoengineering company in a corporate merger transaction.
- Represented the owner of a privately held industrial wastewater treatment company in the evaluation of strategic transaction options.
- Represented the founding partners of an electrical services company in a partnership structuring and entity formation and documentation.
- Represented a privately held energy company in negotiating a crude pipeline construction project and related agreements.
- Represented a privately held working interest owner in structuring and negotiating an earning, continuous drilling, and joint development program with a third-party operator, as well as the related capital raise for drilling operations.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) independent oil and gas company in the sale to a third-party operator of plugging and abandonment obligations for shallow water leases and wells.
- Represented a privately held energy company in a joint venture financing of partner equity restructuring.
- Represented the chemicals division of a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational oil and gas company in the structuring and negotiation of a joint venture for the production of surfactants and related agreements.
- Represented a privately held energy company as the purchaser in the negotiation of acquisition documents in anticipation of an option exercise for the acquisition of crude pipeline assets.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational oilfield services company in the acquisition of fluid inclusion analysis technologies and related laboratory assets.
- Represented a privately held energy company in a bid to acquire multiple hundreds of fuel service stations and related fuel supply contracts as well as the structuring of the joint venture proposal for the acquisition.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational oil and gas company in the acquisition of a gathering system from a seller in bankruptcy.
- Represented a privately held energy company in the acquisition of crude terminal assets.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational oil company in the acquisition of oil and gas leases from an insolvent seller.
- Represented a privately held trucking company in a bid to acquire commercial trucking assets.
- Served as Texas local counsel to a privately held processor and distributor of steel products in the acquisition of assets from an insolvent seller.
- Represented a financial institution in the disposition of foreclosed healthcare assets.
- Represented a limited liability company member in the redemption of such member’s equity interest.
- Provide ongoing representation of a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational EPC company and its affiliated cross-border joint venture entities in foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives transactions, ISDA documentation negotiation, and regulatory compliance under the Dodd-Frank Act and EMIR.
- Provide ongoing representation of a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational oil and gas company and its affiliated cross-border joint venture entities in ISDA documentation negotiation and regulatory compliance under the Dodd-Frank Act and EMIR.
- Provide ongoing representation of a publicly traded (NASDAQ) pharmaceutical company in derivatives portfolio restructuring, ISDA documentation negotiation, regulatory compliance under the Dodd-Frank Act and EMIR, and a private accelerated share repurchase program.
- Provide ongoing representation of a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational manufacturing company in ISDA and NAESB financial and commodity hedging arrangements and related Dodd-Frank Act matters.
- Represented a privately held pipe manufacturing and logistics company as the borrower for a mezzanine facility.
- Provide ongoing representation for publicly traded and privately held petrochemical companies as the lessee in matters related to leveraged railcar equipment leases and the negotiation of non-leveraged leases.
Other notable engagements include:
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) shallow-water drilling company as the seller in a prepackaged bankruptcy sale of its drilling assets.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) drilling company as the purchaser in the acquisition of directional drilling assets.
- Represented a private equity firm as the purchaser in the acquisition of the stock of a manufacturer of mixing and blending products for the energy industry.
- Represented a privately held energy industrial maintenance services company as the seller in the sale of the company to a private equity firm.
- Assisted in representing a publicly traded (NYSE) petrochemical company as the purchaser in multiple auction bids for the acquisition of crude refinery assets.
- Assisted in representing publicly traded (NYSE) chemicals manufacturing and energy companies in joint ventures to develop a soda ash transloading facility and a petcoke terminal facility.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) oil and gas company as the purchaser in negotiating multiple petcoke supply agreements.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) manufacturing company as the purchaser in negotiating sulphur supply and terminaling agreements.
- Provide ongoing representation of a publicly traded (NYSE) multinational drilling company as the borrower in senior secured credit facilities and related amendments and as issuer in multiple domestic and Canadian high-yield debt offerings.
- Represented multiple healthcare institutions as borrowers in secured revolving and term credit facilities, internal financings, and related amendments.
- Represented and assisted in representing privately held and publicly traded (NYSE and NASDAQ) manufacturing, procurement, media and entertainment, sporting goods, and energy companies, as well as a private equity firm, as borrowers in secured credit facilities (revolver and term features) and related amendments.
- Assisted in representing a publicly traded (NYSE) procurement company as the borrower in an unsecured credit facility.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) oil and gas services company as the issuer in establishing and amending its commercial paper programs.
- Assisted in representing multiple healthcare institutions as the issuers of tax-exempt bonds as well as in related bond refinancings and credit matters.
- Represented a publicly traded (NYSE) manufacturing company in its plant shutdown due to a pigging incident on its natural gas pipeline.
- Assisted in representing both an international language learning company in its initial public offering on the NYSE and a global media and entertainment company with the spin-off of its outdoor advertising business as an independent public company listed on the NYSE.
News & Views
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Speaking Engagement
Managing Executive Risk: Strategies for Leadership
Dean & Draper Insurance Agency and Ferguson Alliance -
Honor
Blank Rome Recognized in ACG Houston’s Seventh Annual Deal of the Year Awards
David E. Kronenberg, Emanuel Faust, John E. Lucian, Regina Stango Kelbon, Nina Bianchi Skinner
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Event
AWA and HYLA Speed Mentoring
The Association of Women Attorneys and Houston Young Lawyers Association Women’s Committee -
Speaking Engagement
Women’s Breakfast Briefing: It’s a Commodity World—Aligning, Navigating, and Allocating Resources
Energy Trading Week Americas -
Blog Post
Welcome to The BR Derivatives Report!
The BR Derivatives Report -
Article
Annual Survey of Judicial Developments Pertaining to Mergers and Acquisitions
The Business Lawyer -
Deal
Blank Rome Represents Tallgrass MLP Operations, LLC in its Acquisition of Ruby Pipeline, LLC
David E. Kronenberg, Emanuel Faust, John E. Lucian, Regina Stango Kelbon, Nina Bianchi Skinner, Ashley N. Catalano-Leckerman
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Event
Eighth Annual Energy Industry Update: Connecting | Collaborating | Evolving
Yelena M. Barychev, Susan L. Bickley, James S. Carter, Jennifer J. Daniels, Margaret Anne Hill, Sharon R. Klein
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Event
ACG Houston Industrials & Energy Uncorked
Industrials & Energy Uncorked -
Speaking Engagement
Relevant Risk Issues for Corporate Counsel to Consider
ACC South/Central Texas Special Virtual Round Table CLEKeith B. Letourneau, Nina Bianchi Skinner, Cassandra G. Mott, Yelena M. Barychev
Recognitions
- 2023, ACG Deal of the Year, Alternative Energy Solutions, awarded by the Association for Corporate Growth
- 2006, 2011, Rising Star, Texas, listed in Super Lawyers
Affiliations
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Houston Bar Association
- State Bar of Texas
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Hispanic Lawyers Network
- Institute for Energy Law
- Association of Corporate Growth
As a reflection of her commitment to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, Nina serves as co-chair of Blank Rome’s Latinx affinity group. She is also an active member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, Hispanic Lawyers Network, and Latin Women’s Initiative.
Nina received a Blank Rome Pro Bono Award for providing over 75 hours of pro bono service in 2023.
Nina serves on numerous boards and organizations, including:
- National Charity League Texas (Sage Chapter)
- Memorial Lutheran Church
- Methodist Hospital Young Leaders for Medicine, Founding Member
- Women’s Energy Network, Executive Forum
- Institute for Energy Law (2022, 2023, 2024), Advisory Board Member
- Houston Association of Women Attorneys Foundation, Board of Trustees
- Latin Women’s Initiative
Credentials
Admissions
- Texas
Education
- University of Houston Law Center, JD
- University of Houston, MBA
- Tulane University, BS, magna cum laude
- Spanish