Practices

Mike Timpone is a partner in the Corporate Finance and Business Transactions Groups and a member of the Management Committee at Seward & Kissel.  Mike is the head of the Firm’s Transportation Finance Group, a cross section of attorneys within the Firm from the Corporate Finance, Corporate Securities, Business Transactions, Litigation, Bankruptcy and Tax Departments with expertise on matters of interest to clients in the transportation industry.  He devotes a large part of his time to the representation of U.S. and non-U.S. banks and other institutional lenders as well as borrowers in connection with secured loans and other financing transactions, as well as corporations and other business entities as borrowers in these transactions.  Mike has worked on matters ranging from the formation of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, asset finance transactions, registered and unregistered securities transactions, to restructurings.

Mike is the immediate past Chair of the Marine Financing Committee for the Maritime Law Association of the United States. Mike is also a Member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the American Bar Association and the Maritime Law Association of the United States. He is recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global in Transportation: Shipping: Finance, as well as by New York Super Lawyer. Mike is also a contributor to Seward & Kissel’s Maritime Blog.

Mike received a B.A. with honors, from Rutgers College and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. Mike has spent his entire legal career at Seward & Kissel.

Representative Experience
  • Represented Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., in connection with a joint venture with Pangaea Logistics Solutions Ltd., to acquire, own and operate bulk carriers.
  • Represented American Commercial Barge Lines in connection with its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and its emergence therefrom.
  • Represented a Norwegian Lender in connection with a credit facility financing multiple commercial fishing vessels.
  • Represented DNB Capital markets as underwriters in connection with a common stock offering for Eagle Bulk Shipping.
  • Represented CIT Bank in connection with the financing of eight containership.
  • Represented Ridgebury Tankers and its subsidiaries as borrowers and guarantors in connection with numerous financings, including:
    • $19,000,000 secured loan facility made available by Northern Shipping Fund to the company in two tranches to partially refinance two suezmax tanker vessels.
    • $10,000,000 revolving credit facility made available by DNB Bank ASA, New York Branch to the company for general corporate and working capital purposes in connection with the ownership of four VLCCs. The transaction was completed in a compressed timeline in late December/early January.
    • Upsize of a $10,000,000 revolving credit facility to $20,000,000 made available by DNB Bank ASA, New York Branch to the company for general corporate and working capital purposes in connection with the ownership of four VLCCs.
    • $230,950,000 credit facility arranged by ABN Amro Capital USA LLC, DNB Markets, Inc., Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and Danish Ship Finance A/S, to refinance the company’s existing credit facility and Norwegian bonds
  • Represented DNB Markets, Inc. in connection with a $85,500,000 secured term loan facility collateralized by six bulkers flagged in the Marshall Islands for Scorpio Bulkers, Inc.
  • Represented DNB Markets, Inc. as mandated lead arranger, facility agent, security trustee and lender in connection with a $130,000,000 senior secured term loan facility involving Seacor Marine Foreign Holdings Inc. as borrower and SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. as parent guarantor.
  • Represented Scorpio Tankers Inc. in its $1.1 billion merger with Navig8 Product Tankers Inc, whereby Scorpio Tankers acquired 27 operating product tankers from Navig8 Product Tankers in exchange for 55 million shares of Scorpio common stock and the assumption of debt. The transaction included a $200 million underwritten public offering of common shares issued by Scorpio as part of the transaction.
  • Represented Dynagas, as guarantor, and its six subsidiaries, as borrowers, in connection with a US$480,000,000 Term Loan B secured by six LNG vessels, each subject to long term charters with oil majors. The transaction was syndicated widely and involved internal restructuring around subsidiaries in Delaware, Malta, Marshall Islands, Liberia and Saint Kitts and Nevis and extensive negotiations with the charterers on consent and regulatory matters.
  • Represented DNB Markets, Inc., ABN Amro Capital USA, LLC and DVB Bank SE, Amsterdam Branch, as mandated lead arrangers and book runners, in connection with a US$192,800,000 credit facilities extended to Chembulk Capital LLC, as Borrower, Chembulk Investment Co LLC, as parent guarantor, and certain subsidiaries of the Borrower, as subsidiary guarantors, to refinance the borrower’s existing credit facility and to finance the purchase of additional vessels. The transaction involved the restructuring of the company’s capital structure, which included issuance of preference units to the outgoing lenders of the company and the purchase of option vessels in Japanese Yen, and the S&K team advised the bank syndicate, which included financial institutions from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Norway and USA, in all aspects of the transactions.
  • Represented Scorpio Tankers Inc. in connection with two $150 million senior secured term loan credit facilities each provided by a syndicate of banks, with Nordea Bank Finland plc acting as agent in each, in connection with the financing of the acquisition costs of vessels.
  • Represented Diamond S Shipping in connection with a $719 million senior secured term loan credit facility made available by, among others, Nordea Bank Finland plc and DNB Bank to finance the acquisition of 30 vessel owning companies and special maritime counsel to the company in connection with the acquisition of those companies.
  • Represented DNB Bank in connection with a $180 million revolving credit facility provided by a syndicate of banks, with DnB NOR Bank ASA acting as agent, to meet the ongoing working capital requirements of a privately held U.S. transportation and logistics company.
Recognition