W. Andrew Lanius

Andrew Lanius is a Partner in the Firm’s Banking and Credit Practice in the Houston office. He regularly advises borrowers and lenders on a wide range of financing, acquisition financing, leveraged finance, restructuring, project finance and direct lending transactions. Andrew has counseled world-class clients in an array of industries, including energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, power, maritime, telecommunications, entertainment and retail. His clients have included JPMorgan, Citibank, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Apollo, Wells Fargo, BlackRock Global Infrastructure, Energy Opportunities Capital, Blackstone, Riverstone, EIG Credit Management, Capital One and Goldman Sachs.

Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Andrew served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Edith H. Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as a Certified Public Accountant at a Big 4 accounting firm. 

Andrew’s experience includes the representation of:

• JPMorgan, as lead arranger and administrative agent, in Expand Energy Corporation’s (f/k/a Chesapeake Energy Corporation) senior secured reserve-based revolving credit facility, with an initial borrowing base of $3,500,000,000, commitments of $2,000,000,000, and subsequent conversion into an investment grade credit facility pursuant to automatic investment grade fallaway provisions
• A fund managed by the BlackRock Global Infrastructure business and Capital Power Investments LLC for their announced joint purchase of the 1,092 MW Harquahala natural gas-fired generation facility in Maricopa County, Arizona
• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a back-leveraged term loan B facility secured by a minority JV interest in a major trans-American pipeline
• Prominent private credit financing sources in a $650 million back leverage Holdco first lien loan against a minority interest in a joint venture. The involved operating company is an entity in the infrastructure space

• JPMorgan, as Administrative Agent and Lead Arranger in connection with MRC Global Inc.’s new senior secured term loan B facility in an aggregate principal amount of $350 million

• Administrative Agents and Joint Lead Arrangers in connection with EPIC Y-Grade, LP’s (“EPIC”) financing in an aggregate principal amount of $1.145 billion, which consisted of (i) a $1.075 billion senior secured term loan B and (ii) a $70 million super-priority revolving credit facility

• Apollo, in its capital commitment in Yondr Group to facilitate the continued buildout of Yondr’s portfolio of hyper scale data center facilities

• A leading energy-focused private credit fund in connection with a Holdco term loan to a sponsor-owned midstream company focused on developing, owning and operating off-spec gas infrastructure

• JPMorgan, as administrative agent and lead arranger, in connection with oil and gas property investor Double Eagle IV Midco’s syndicated reserve based revolving credit facility
• ILX Holdings II, a Riverstone portfolio company owning offshore oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico, in a $250,000,000 senior secured project finance term loan agreement, recipient of the North American 2017 Upstream Oil and Gas Deal of the Year from Infrastructure Journal Global
• JPMorgan, as lead arranger and administrative agent, in Topgolf’s amended and restated $175,000,000 revolving facility and $350,000,000 term loan B facility
• JPMorgan, as administrative agent and lead arranger, with respect to a $500,000,000 asset-based revolving credit facility and related $2,050,000,000 secured high yield notes offering by NGL Energy Partners
• JPMorgan in the financing for Rent-A-Center’s acquisition of Acima, including an $875,000,000 term loan B facility and $550,000,000 ABL facility
• Bank of Montreal and Citi, as lead arrangers and administrative agents, in connection with three separate acquisitions by Ensign Natural Resources of a working interest located in the Eagle Ford Shale
• JPMorgan, as administrative agent, in connection with Jonah Energy’s $750,000,000 second amended and restated reserve-based revolving credit facility and related balance sheet restructuring transactions, allowing Jonah Energy to reduce its overall debt balance by approximately $580,000,000
• Citi, as lead arranger and administrative agent, in connection with a reserve-based revolving loan for Validus Energy to finance its acquisition of Ovintiv’s Eagle Ford assets for $880,000,000
• Two major American banks in commitment backstops under an existing RBL credit facility to provide the borrower with a liquidity bridge to two separate mergers of equals
• JPMorgan, as arranger and administrative agent, in the amendment and restatement of Noble Corporation plc’s existing senior secured revolving credit facility, providing for commitments of $550,000,000
• Essential Utilities in a $500,000,000 364-day term loan credit agreement, the proceeds of which were used for general corporate purposes, to strengthen its liquidity and cash position, and to maximize its financial flexibility in light of the uncertainty surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Morgan Stanley, as administrative agent, in a $250,000,000 second lien term loan for Sundance Energy and subsequent bankruptcy and comprehensive financial restructuring transactions, which was implemented through a pre-packaged chapter 11 plan and junior DIP facility
• Bank of Montreal, as administrative agent for the prepetition RBL lenders and DIP lenders, in connection with Lilis Energy’s chapter 11 cases
• Bank of Montreal, as administrative agent and lead arranger, in the $750,000,000 exit facility in Halcón Resources Corporation’s (now Battalion Oil) financial restructuring and emergence from bankruptcy
• JPMorgan, as administrative agent, in the out-of-court restructuring of Yak Access
• JPMorgan in its committed debt financing for Cactus, Inc.’s acquisition of FlexSteel Technologies Holdings, Inc.
• JPMorgan in Callon Petroleum Company’s $2,000,000,000 senior secured revolving credit facility

Andrew received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review. He received his M.S. and B.S. in Business Administration - Accounting, with high distinction, from the University of Colorado, where he was the top graduate in the Accounting program. He is admitted to practice in Virginia and Texas.