Criston E. Cicala

Partner

  • Criston E. Cicala
  • Phone: +1 212 404 8736

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    22 Vanderbilt
    335 Madison Avenue, 23rd Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4669
    USA
  • Duane Morris LLP
    201 S. Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 3400
    Miami, FL 33131-4325
    USA

Criston E. Cicala is a corporate, finance and banking attorney with more than two decades of both domestic and international experience. He focuses his multifaceted practice on providing banks and other financial institutions, corporations, private equity and credit funds, real estate developers, media companies and entrepreneurs with practical and strategic legal advice.

Mr. Cicala regularly represents clients in complex matters involving structured finance, trade finance, securities and capital markets, private equity and credit, commercial lending, real estate finance and mergers and acquisitions  He is a former principal investor and advisor in both private equity and real estate matters, providing him the unique perspective of having played a lead role in both the acquisitions and dispositions of assets, as well as having been involved in the day-to-day management of both real estate and corporate ventures.

Mr. Cicala is a member of Duane Morris’ Digital Assets and Blockchain Group, a multidisciplinary group of attorneys providing a full suite of services to clients in the cryptocurrency, digital assets and blockchain industries, both domestically and internationally.

He is a former principal investor and advisor in private equity and real estate, offering the unique perspective of having played a lead role in acquisitions and dispositions of assets, as well as being involved in the day-to-day management of real estate and corporate ventures.

Mr. Cicala is a graduate of Tulane Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2000) and Vanderbilt University (B.A., 1996).

Representative Matters

    Trade Finance & Corporate Finance

  • Represented Brazilian financial institution in more than 100 trade and structured finance transactions totaling over $1 billon.

  • Represented Brazilian financial institution in $200 million credit facility with South American (Andean) regional development bank.

  • Represented U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) in $1 billion senior credit facility.

  • Represented Brazilian telecom company as borrower in term and bridge loan facilities totaling $300 million.

  • Represented various major European financial institutions in United States Commercial Paper Programs totaling over $2.5 billon.

  • Represented Japanese financial institution in the sale of various municipal bond assets to major French bank.

  • Represented well-known European transportation and energy conglomerate in various receivables securitization programs.

    • Capital Markets

  • Represented underwriting syndicates in the issuance and public offering of various long maturity securities of major U.S. entertainment conglomerate pursuant to Rule 144-A totaling an aggregate amount of $3.3 billion.

  • Represented Dutch bank, as lead arranger and administrative in $200 million note purchase facility for large Caribbean financial institution.

  • Represented German state-owned bank, as lead arranger and documentation agent in $40 million note purchase facility for large Caribbean financial institution.

    • Private Equity/ Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Represented European transportation and energy conglomerate in proposed joint venture with U.S. motor corporation to form locomotive parts supplier.

  • Represented Fortune 50 U.S. electronics and defense conglomerate in the sale of one its divisions to a large leveraged buyout group.

  • Represented internet financial services client in their acquisition of internet-based financial information service competitor.

  • Represented Miami-based publishing group in the purchase of Hispanic interest magazine.

    • Real Estate & Real Estate Finance

  • Represented joint venture of major media and hospitality companies in $450 million refinancing of several major theme park/hotel properties.

  • Represented major hotel chain in $151 million refinancing of major Miami Beach hotel.

  • Represented the structured finance team of British Bank in the financing of a large luxury resort and golf club located in Palm Beach County, Florida.

  • Represented major Kuwaiti financial institution in the formation of an investment fund and the corresponding acquisition and disposition of numerous multi-family properties throughout the United States.

  • Represented lender in $53 million financing of multi-family property in Pinellas County, Florida.

  • Represented lender in $58 million financing of luxury hotel in Brooklyn, New York.

  • Represented lender in $46 million financing of multi-family development in Austin, Texas.

  • Represented borrower in $50 million of acquisition financing for mobile home parks in the Midwest and Southeast.

  • Represented borrower in joint venture to acquire $48 million multi-family property acquisition financing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

  • Represented borrower in $55 million financing of redevelopment property in Boston, Massachusetts.

Admissions

  • New York
  • Florida
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Education

  • Tulane Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2000
    - Notes and Comments Editor Tulane Maritime Law Journal
  • Vanderbilt University, B.A., 1996

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Partner, 2024-present
  • Stinson LLP
    - Partner, 2023-2024
  • Calhoun Bhella & Sechrest LLP
    - Partner, 2018-2023
  • Arx Holdings LLC
    - Managing Director, 2005-2018
  • Hughes Hubbard & Reed
    - Associate, 2000-2005

Professional Activities

  • Member, Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC)
  • Member, Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA)
  • American Bar Association
    - Banking Law Subcommittee
    - Committee on Legal Opinions

  • Florida Bar Association

  • New York Bar Association

  • Italy-American Chamber of Commerce
    - Senior Sustaining Member

Civic and Charitable Activities

  • Warren, Connecticut Historical Society
    - Board Member

Selected Publications

  • "Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs," Law360, July 12, 2024

  • “Basel III delay won’t diminish banks’ appetite for synthetic risk transfers.” American Banker, April 2024

  • “Federal Reserve’s Capital Relief Change Eases Path to Basel III”. Bloomberg Law, February 2024

  • “What Fed’s Credit-Linked Note FAQ Means for Capital Relief.” Law360, March 2024

  • “Italy’s Bank-Profits Tax Plan May Become Model for Eurozone.” Law360, September 2023

  • “Controversy, Criticism, Profit – PGA and LIV Golf Merger Leaves Many Unanswered Questions.” New York Law Journal, 2023

  • "The Double Hull Requirement of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990: Does It Constitute a Regulatory Taking?" Tulane Maritime Law Journal, Spring 2000

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker, "The Future of Finance: Navigating Digital Assets in the Banking World," Bates Group, Webinar, May 20, 2025

  • "Synthetic Securitizations: The Genuine Regulatory Facts," American Bar Association Business Law Section, September 13, 2024