Vedder Price

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

John F. Imhof Jr. is a Shareholder and a member of the firm’s Global Transportation Finance team.

Mr. Imhof focuses his practice on maritime and transportation finance. He has more than 30 years of experience advising lenders, lessors, investors, borrowers and lessees in the domestic and cross-border financing of transportation and logistics assets, including ships, shipping containers, aircraft, railroad rolling stock and related infrastructure. His experience involves a variety of facilities and financing techniques, including syndicated senior secured loan facilities, mezzanine and subordinated loan facilities, letter-of-credit facilities, single-investor leases, leveraged leases, sale-leaseback transactions and restructurings. Mr. Imhof also advises investors in connection with a variety of investments in maritime and transportation assets, including investments in existing companies, the formation of joint ventures and the acquisition of distressed debt. His clients include leading banks, hedge funds, private equity funds, shipowners, airlines and rail transportation companies. From 2020 to 2024, Mr. Imhof was recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the Transport: Shipping—Finance category. In 2023 and 2024, The Legal 500 United States recognized him as a Leading Lawyer in the Transport: Shipping—Finance category.

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

Education

  • Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., 1990, cum laude
  • Duke University, B.S., 1985

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

Bar Admissions

  • New York, 1991
  • Connecticut, 1990
  • Republic of the Marshall Islands, 2019

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

John F. Imhof Jr.

Shareholder

Experience

Mr. Imhof’s recent experience includes advising:

  • a leading innovator in residential cruising in connection with its internal corporate restructuring and its acquisition and financing of a 562-foot luxury residential cruise vessel;
  • Maritime Partners, LLC, a maritime leasing and finance company, as sponsor, in connection with a term securitization transaction involving the Rule 144A issuance of US$235.3 million of notes secured by a portfolio of 316 United States-flagged, coastwise (Jones Act) qualified inland barges and towboats, and which won Marine Money’s 2023 Deal of the Year Award for Securitization;
  • a major U.S. bank as administrative agent, collateral agent, security trustee and lender in connection with a US$628 million senior secured revolving and term loan facility for and payment-in-kind toggle notes issued by Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., in connection with its exit from United States Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and in each case secured by first-preferred fleet mortgages on thirteen Marshall Islands flagged drilling rigs and drill ships;
  • a New York-based shipping company in connection with a US$81 million sale-leaseback transaction involving a Chinese leasing company and two newbuild 25,000 DWT ECO-class Marshall Islands flagged stainless steel chemical carriers;
  • an affiliate of a major European bank as agent, mandated lead arranger, book runner and lender in connection with a US$190 million syndicated revolving credit facility for a leading container lessor and secured by a segregated pool of containers and related assets;
  • HSH Nordbank AG as secured creditor in connection with the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of Nautilus Holdings Ltd. and its affiliates, and the acquisition by HSH Nordbank AG’s nominees of five container vessels and related agreements from affiliates of Nautilus Holdings Ltd. pursuant to its Chapter 11 plan of reorganization;
  • the lenders, agents and joint lead arrangers in connection with the US$365 million syndicated senior secured pre-delivery financing of four 49,600 DWT coastwise-eligible (Jones Act) product tankers for operating companies owned by New York-based private equity funds;
  • New York-based private equity funds in connection with a US$500 million joint venture to build five 49,000 DWT coastwise-eligible (Jones Act) product tankers, and the subsequent restructuring of the joint venture and related offering of US$285 million in first-priority senior secured notes in a transaction that won Marine Money’s Deal of the Year Award for U.S. Public Debt; and
  • the project sponsor in connection with a US$488 million loan facility provided by a leading multinational development bank and a syndicate of commercial banks to finance the construction and operation of a semi-submersible drilling vessel for use in Brazilian territorial waters.