Lucas F. Torres

Partner Emeritus

Areas of Focus

Lucas F. Torres

Partner Emeritus

ltorres@akingump.com

Areas of Focus

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Biography
  • Advised public energy companies and their underwriters in capital-raising transactions, in particular, in the electric and gas utility space.
  • Counseled public companies on strategic transactions, SEC reporting and compliance, financial restructuring matters and corporate governance.

Lucas retired from the partnership at the end of 2022. He spent more than three decades advising public companies and their underwriters in public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities in connection with meeting capital needs, refinancing and restructuring of outstanding debt and financing acquisitions and other strategic transactions.

Lucas drew upon his extensive knowledge of the energy industry in providing practical and proactive advice to issuers, boards of directors, underwriters and investors in a broad range of corporate, finance and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting and compliance and corporate governance.

Over the course of his career, Lucas acted as primary corporate counsel to two of the largest investor-owned electric and gas utility systems in the United States and as issuers’ or designated underwriters’ counsel to many other domestic utility and telecommunications companies in numerous registered and 144A/Regulation S offerings, private placements, consent solicitations and tender offers involving a broad spectrum of securities, including:

  • Senior notes
  • Mortgage bonds
  • Tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds
  • Utility securitization bonds
  • Convertible notes
  • Preferred stock
  • Equity units
  • Trust preferred securities
  • Lease obligation bonds
  • Pass-through trust certificates.

During his tenure at the firm, Lucas was an active member of numerous committees, including the:

  • Firmwide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council
  • Firmwide Pro Bono Committee
  • New York Office Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (Chair)
  • New York Office Hiring Committee
  • New York Office Pro Bono Committee
  • Corporate Pro Bono Committee.
Representative Work
  • Advised Spire Inc., an investor-owned gas distribution and marketing system, in its acquisitions of Missouri Gas Energy, Alabama Gas and EnergySouth, which expanded its business across Missouri and into Alabama and Mississippi. In addition to advising on deal negotiations, helped bring to market the associated acquisition financing, which for the Alabama Gas acquisition included $140 million of equity units, $460 million of common stock and $620 million of floating rate senior notes.
  • Assisted FirstEnergy Corp., an investor-owned electric transmission, distribution and generation system, in its strategy to focus on its regulated operations. Helped restructure existing transmission holdings and raise funds for a $5 billion, multiyear investment program. Those efforts included a May 2014 Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of $1 billion of long-term debt and an additional $950 million of long-term debt later that same year, as well as follow-on debt offerings of $225 million in 2015 and $150 million in 2017.
  • Represented FirstEnergy Corp. and its operating subsidiaries in various restructurings of their syndicated bank facilities, including to meet growing in working capital needs and to insulate regulated operations from the impacts of anticipated write-downs and impairments of merchant generation assets. In particular, in December 2016, negotiated restructured facilities that successfully limited those potential impacts and supported the company’s transition to a fully-regulated business.
  • Advised Greenlight Capital Re Ltd. in connection with a Rule 144A offering of $100 million of convertible senior notes and the related repurchase of one million of its Class A ordinary shares. In addition to the repurchases, net proceeds were contributed to the capital and surplus of certain reinsurance subsidiaries and used for general corporate purposes.

Education
  • J.D., Columbia Law School, 1991

  • B.S., Yale University, 1986

Bar Admissions
  • New York

Recognitions
  • IFLR1000, United States, Notable Practitioner, Capital Markets, 2019.
  • Latino Leaders Magazine, Top Latino Lawyers 2019.
Affiliations and Public Service
  • Board of Directors, Nominating and Governance Committee, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), 2021-present
  • Board of Directors, Committees – Finance; Nominating and Governance, Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), 2013-2022
  • Member, Hispanic Lawyers Society of New York, 2013-2022
  • Member, Business Law Section, American Bar Association
Speeches and Publications
  • Panelist, “Thriving Financially Amid Turmoil,” Energy-Central webinar, October 2010.

Insights and Achievements

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