O’Melveny Worldwide

Ryan Cicero focuses his practice on handling finance and other corporate matters within the energy, industrial, and digital asset sectors. He advises both lenders and borrowers on a variety of secured lending transactions, including senior, second lien, third lien, and mezzanine loans; syndicated loans; project loans; and structured commodity agreements. He also regularly counsels on complex intercreditor arrangements, debt restructurings, and debtor-creditor disputes. Chambers USA ranked for four consecutive years in Banking & Finance – Texas, Ryan has been hailed as “…hard-working, smart, well organized and practical” as well as “…very responsive, thoughtful and a trusted adviser.”

Select Significant Matters

Oil & Gas Finance
  • A leading Rocky Mountain independent natural gas producer in its reserve-based lending facility with aggregate commitments of US$500 million secured by operated properties in Wyoming.
  • A private oil and gas company specializing in operating assets and their corresponding midstream infrastructure in its reserve-based lending facility secured by properties across several basins.
  • Natural gas producer Comstock Resources, Inc. in its reserve-based lending facility with an initial borrowing base of US$2.0 billion and an elected commitment of US$1.5 billion.
  • A sponsor-backed exploration and production company in a syndicated reserve-based lending facility with aggregate commitments of approximately US$400 million secured by operated and non-operated oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin, Central Basin Platform and Delaware Basin.
  • A sponsor-backed exploration and production company in an acquisition financing of non-operated oil and gas properties in the Permian and Denver-Julesburg basins with aggregate commitments of approximately US$250 million.
  • A sponsor-backed exploration and production company in an acquisition financing of operated and non-operated oil and gas properties in the Bakken basin with aggregate commitments of approximately US$250 million.
  • J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation, as royalty owner, in purchase of an approximately US$222 million volumetric production payment transaction for Antero Resources.
  • Citibank N.A., as administrative agent, in the US$750 million secured reserve-based oil and gas borrowing base credit agreement for a privately held offshore exploration and production company.
  • A sponsor-backed midstream company, as borrower, in a secured US$50 million loan facility with a nationally recognized bank as administrative agent and lender.
  • Toronto-Dominion (Texas) LLC, as first lien administrative agent, in connection with the amendment and restatement of a US$750 million syndicated reserved-based loan to W&T Offshore, a deep water Gulf of Mexico oil and gas producer.
  • A sponsor-backed exploration and production portfolio company, as borrower, in a secured oil and gas reserve-based borrowing base credit facility of up to US$50 million with a nationally recognized bank as administrative agent and lender.
  • A sponsor-backed exploration and production portfolio company, as borrower, in a secured oil and gas reserve-based borrowing base credit facility of up to $US90 million with a nationally recognized private investment firm as Administrative Agent and Lender.
  • A major French bank as Administrative Agent in several reserve-based borrowing base credit facilities.
  • A lending affiliate of a major money center bank as Administrative Agent in a US$500 million borrowing base exit credit facility with Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc., secured by oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • A major Canadian bank as Administrative Agent in a syndicated US$300 million acquisition financing of oil and gas properties in Colorado.
  • Citibank, N.A. as Administrative Agent in a US$1.7 billion Reserve-backed borrowing base loan to Fieldwood Energy.
Energy Transition Finance
  • An independent multi-national energy commodities trading company in its investment in various renewable natural gas projects as lender via note purchase agreements.
  • A renewable power company specializing in development and operation of distributed solar energy and storage, as borrower, in its development capital term loan facility with aggregate commitments of US$60 million.
Private Equity
  • A sponsor-backed manufacturer, marketer and distributer of a line of finished lubricants in its senior secured asset-based credit facility with term loan and revolving loan commitments.
  • A sponsor-backed national full-service managed IT service provider in its senior secured credit facility in connection with several add-on acquisitions.
  • A private equity firm in its leveraged buyout of a full-service public affairs and communications firm consisting of a term loan and revolving credit facility provided by a direct lender.
  • A private equity firm in its leveraged buyout of a company specializing in bulk storage and processing of chemicals consisting of a term loan of approximately US$140 million and a revolving facility with aggregate commitments of approximately US$15 million.
  • A sponsor-backed portfolio company specializing in a cloud-based point-of-sale software in its leveraged buyout of a software company consisting of a term loan of over US$200 million and a revolving facility with aggregate commitments of approximately US$20 million.
  • A sponsor-backed healthcare technology and support provider, as borrower, in a US$39 million credit facility provided by a nationally recognized commercial bank.
  • A sponsor-backed semi-trailer and storage container rental business, as borrower, in connection with first and second lien credit facilities.
  • A sponsor-backed regional leader in healthcare laundry services, as borrower, in a US$47.5 million multi-lender credit facility.
  • A sponsor-backed manufacturer and distributor of abrasives and blasting equipment in cross-border first and second lien credit facilities.
  • A sponsor-backed records retrieval service provider in a US$133 million credit facility with a nationally recognized credit provider.
Private Credit/Direct Lending
  • An Austin based private credit fund, as administrative agent and lender, in connection with a secured term loan facility to an online customer-delivery service.
  • A Dallas based family office, as lender, in US$42.5 million senior secured loans to two physician groups with corporate practice of medicine law implications.
Digital Asset Finance
  • A cryptocurrency miner, as issuer, in a Rule 506(c) private placement of 1,000 BTC in Bitcoin-denominated promissory notes, secured by a first-priority all assets lien.
  • A syndicate of lenders in a US$123.5 million term loan acquisition financing to a borrower formed to be an owner and operator of fully integrated environmentally clean bitcoin mining facilities in the United States.
  • A multi-national social trading and multi-asset brokerage company in negotiating a master loan and security agreement provided by a full-service financial provider in the digital asset space.

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • Texas

Education

  • The University of Texas at Austin, J.D.: with honors; Managing Editor, The Review of Litigation; Staff Editor, Texas International Law Journal
  • University of Houston, B.A., History, Minor in Psychology: magna cum laude

Honors & Awards

  • Recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Banking and Finance Law in Houston, TX (2021-2025)
  • Ranked by Chambers USA for Banking & Finance – Texas (2024)
  • Named an “Up and Coming” lawyer, Banking & Finance – Texas, Chambers USA (2021-2023)
  • Recommended by The Legal 500 US for Energy Transactions: Oil and Gas, Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power, and Project Finance (2023)

Professional Activities

Select Publications and Lectures

  • “Lessons from the Downturn: Oil and Gas Debt and Equity Finance,” Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law Symposium, February 2017
  • Co-author, “Responding to Negative Recommendations from Proxy Advisors on Say-on-Pay Proposals: Tactics Used by Reporting Companies in the 2011 Proxy Season,” Bloomberg Securities Law Report (January 6, 2012)
  • Note, “Not Worth the Paper It’s Printed On: The Argument for Repealing EMTALA and Replacing it with a Federal Malpractice Statute,” 29 REV. LITIG. (Winter 2010)