Laurence S. Hughes
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
1540 Broadway
New York, NY 10036-4086
USA
Phone: +1 212 692 1004
Fax: +1 212 202 6315
Email: lshughes@duanemorris.com

Laurence S. Hughes conducts a broad-based corporate law practice. Mr. Hughes regularly counsels clients in the areas of commercial finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities offerings, as well as with respect to various other general corporate and commercial transactions and matters. He has served as in-house general counsel for advanced manufacturing technology, energy and service companies.

A member of the New York State Bar Association, Mr. Hughes is a 1981 graduate of Brooklyn Law School and a graduate of Fordham University.

Areas of Practice

• Commercial Finance
• Corporate Law
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Securities Law
• Corporate Finance
• Financial Restructuring
• Leveraged Finance
• Private Equity/Venture Capital
• Services for Investors
• Service for Private Companies
• Services for Public Companies
• Services for Shareholders

Representative Matters

• Represented Koch Foods Incorporated in closing a $450 million loan transaction that involved 28 parcels of real estate in Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
• Represented Hill International in raising $75 million in gross proceeds ($71.5 million net) in a four-year, second lien term loan pursuant to a credit agreement entered into with funds managed by Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC. The company also amended its $100 million senior credit facility with a consortium of banks led by Bank of America, N.A.
• Represented a provider of offshore contract drilling services in a $750 million financing transaction with a syndicate of banks.
• Represented the agent and lead lender in a syndicate of eight financial institutions providing a $250 million multicurrency revolving credit facility to a publicly-held distributor of healthcare products and services.
• Represented one of the United Kingdom's largest publicly-held conglomerates in a series of acquisitions which established for such entity a significant United States presence in the rail flaw detection and maintenance business. These transactions involved a myriad of business and legal issues, including a Justice Department (antitrust) investigation, acquisition financing, and environmental, labor, ERISA and tax considerations.
• Represented a major east coast food distributor in simultaneous financing transactions involving an equity investment by a major Wall Street investment banking firm, an asset-based credit provided by a major U.S.-based financial institution and a mezzanine debt facility provided by a major U.S.-based investment firm.
• Represented the founder and senior executive officer of a telecommunications company (one of the seminal providers of air-to-ground radio-telephone communications and related technologies and services to the airline industry) in a corporate restructuring/change of control transaction involving complex corporate, tax and regulatory issues.
• Represented the purchaser (an affiliate of a Middle Eastern government) in the acquisition of a major hotel in Bermuda. The terms and timing of the transaction's consummation were structured to comport with Bermudian laws restricting foreign ownership.
• Represented the agent and lead lender in a syndicate of seven financial institutions providing a $74 million term loan facility to a privately-held affiliated group of real estate holding companies, secured by 10 real estate properties located throughout the United States (which properties were leased to an affiliated group of operating companies that distribute food products, health and beauty aids, household goods and other related products).
• Represented the purchasers of a controlling interest in a major United States sports team. This representation included the formation of investment limited partnerships, all aspects of the partnerships' private securities offerings, the refinancing of the acquired entity's credit facility, and obtaining league approval for the ownership change.
• Represented the senior lender in a secured credit facility extended to a well-known entertainment industry company and in the restructuring and intercreditor aspects relating to the borrower's mezzanine debt investor/lender (a well-known investment company).
• Reviewed and negotiated syndicated loan transaction documents on behalf of a lender committing to a portion of a $700 million revolving credit and term loan facility.

Professional Activities

• New York State Bar Association

Admissions

• New York

Education

• Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 1981
• Fordham University, B.A., 1977

Board Memberships

• Center for Human Options, Inc.