About Nina Bianchi Skinner
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.
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
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.
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
News & Views
Events & Webinars / Speaking Engagement
Business Development Practices for Mid and Senior Associates (5+ years)January 30, 2025
Events & Webinars / Speaking Engagement
Managing Executive Risk: Strategies for LeadershipOctober 9, 2024
Honor / Honors & Awards
Blank Rome Recognized in ACG Houston’s Seventh Annual Deal of the Year AwardsMay 2, 2024
Events & Webinars / Speaking Engagement
Women’s Breakfast Briefing: It’s a Commodity World—Aligning, Navigating, and Allocating ResourcesOctober 27, 2023
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
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
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
Memberships
- Institute for Energy Law
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Association of Corporate Growth
- Hispanic Lawyers Network
- State Bar of Texas
- Houston Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Professional Activities
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 and was honored as a “Pro Bono Hero” at the firm’s Houston Pro Bono Recognition event in 2025.
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
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
Bar Admissions
- Texas
Education
- University of Houston Law Center, JD
- University of Houston, MBA
- Tulane University, BS, magna cum laude
Languages
- Spanish
A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.
