Companies, boards of directors and sponsors rely on our team for trusted advice in developing and implementing their complex business turnarounds and restructurings – whether out of court, in bankruptcy, consensual or litigated – among diverse creditor groups and stakeholders.
We advise domestic and international companies in these efforts. We help the decision makers navigate through the corporate governance process and their fiduciary duties to implement financial and/or operational turnarounds to maximize value for affected stakeholders. When necessary, our team of experienced restructuring litigators assess and defend litigation against companies and boards relating to their turnaround efforts.
Our team guides companies through the legal, practical and business challenges of addressing their financial and/or operational distress and we have extensive experience advising company-side clients (including their boards), independent directors and C-suite management teams in navigating the entire process, including in the following areas:
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Determining optimal turnaround and restructuring paths, including out-of-court workouts, forbearance agreements, and pre-packaged, pre-arranged or traditional court processes (eg, Chapter 11 in the US and administration in the UK).
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Navigating domestic and international bankruptcy processes while ensuring compliance with fiduciary duties and other corporate governance responsibilities.
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Negotiating with financial creditors, trade and other non-financial creditors and equity holders.
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Securing debtor-in-possession and other similar rescue financing packages.
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Negotiating and restructuring multiple tranches of loan facilities with diverse groups of financial creditors.
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Structuring rights offerings, other forms of equity issues and new liquidity solutions.
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Designing employee retention and other business stabilization programs.
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Negotiating and documenting plans of reorganization with a wide array of official creditor committees and other constituencies.
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Developing plans for the sale of assets and businesses, whether non-core or consisting of substantially all the business assets, to maximize value.
We advise our clients throughout all stages of the turnaround process, harmonizing diverse stakeholder interests and often arriving at workable solutions without the need to litigate. However, when litigation proves necessary, we have the resources, including dedicated partners whose focus is bankruptcy and insolvency litigation as well as governance, to litigate and win. We have successfully litigated numerous issues impacting the restructuring process and have a proven track record of defending the business judgment in restructuring of the company, as well as boards and sponsors.
With a deep focus on corporate governance and the pressures our company clients face, we have facilitated financial and/or operational restructurings for debtors and secured timely confirmation of consensual and contested plans of reorganization (eg, in Chapter 11 cases and UK schemes of arrangements and restructuring plans) in a broad range of industries, including retail, healthcare, energy, shipping, financial services, manufacturing and real estate. We can advise on and help structure the deal technology used to address liquidity needs, including liability management exercises.