Business

Sale leaseback transactions are often marketed as win-win situations — unlocking capital while allowing companies to retain operational control of critical assets. But beneath the surface, these structures can carry significant and sometimes underestimated risks. This panel will take a hard look at the “dark side” of sale leasebacks, exploring how transactions that appear overly rosy at inception can later become the focal point of financial distress and legal battles. The panelists will examine the operational ramifications of sale leasebacks, including constraints on flexibility, long-term cost burdens, and impacts on liquidity and capital adequacy. The discussion also will address litigation risks, particularly claims tied to solvency, ability to pay debts, and allegations of fraudulent conveyance or improper capitalization. As sale leasebacks continue to gain traction — especially in capital-intensive and distressed environments — the panelists will explore why this structure remains attractive and how it is reflected on a company’s financial statements from an accounting and disclosure perspective.Learning Objectives:Attendees will evaluate the operational and financial implications of sale leaseback transactions, including their effects on liquidity, capital adequacy, and long-term cost structure.Attendees will analyze the potential restructuring and litigation risks associated with sale leasebacks, including solvency challenges, fraudulent conveyance claims, and disputes over capitalization.Attendees will assess how sale leasebacks are structured and presented in financial statements, including key accounting and disclosure considerations that may affect stakeholder interpretation and risk assessment.

This panel will explore current pressures on health care operators, financing structures and real estate transactions. The panelists will cover entity structures, lending approaches and key trends defining today's health care market.Learning Objectives:Attendees will learn to:Identify current financial pressures on health care operators and their impact on real estate transaction structures and lending approaches.Analyze entity structuring options and financing mechanisms commonly used in health care real estate transactions.Evaluate emerging trends in health care operator distress and their implications for lenders, investors and restructuring professionals.

Each year, the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear dozens of bankruptcy cases, leaving important legal questions unanswered and lower court rulings in place. This panel examines significant bankruptcy decisions for which certiorari was denied, exploring the unresolved issues they leave behind and the practical impact on bankruptcy practitioners and stakeholders. The panelists discuss how the Supreme Court evaluates petitions for certiorari, the factors that influence whether review is granted, and emerging bankruptcy issues that may be poised for future Supreme Court consideration. Attendees gain insight into developing areas of bankruptcy law and the implications of a Court that often chooses not to weigh in.Learning Objectives:Attendees will understand the criteria and considerations the U.S. Supreme Court uses when deciding whether to grant or deny certiorari in bankruptcy cases.Attendees will examine significant bankruptcy cases in which certiorari was denied and assess the practical implications of those decisions on bankruptcy law and practice.Attendees will identify unresolved bankruptcy law issues and emerging legal questions that may be candidates for future Supreme Court review.

Everyone thinks they have their form plan figured out, but what if there are issues you didn’t think about lurking in your plan? After confirmation, what comes next? What if the plan never actually goes into effect? This panel will help you avoid issues you might not have thought about once that confirmation order is entered.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify common pitfalls and overlooked provisions that can create problems in chapter 11 plans and plan confirmation orders.Attendees will assess post-confirmation risks and challenges, including issues that arise when a confirmed plan fails to become effective.Attendees will implement practical strategies to anticipate and address potential post-confirmation complications before they become case-disrupting problems.

This session reviews the difficulties facing the spirits industry and options for rehabilitation. The panelists consider some active and past cases to highlight solutions, as well as other solutions for when bankruptcy is not the best option, including an increased focus on receiverships and other out-of-court options.Learning Objectives:Attendees will identify the economic, operational and market challenges contributing to financial distress within the spirits industry and related consumer-product sectors.Attendees will analyze restructuring and rehabilitation strategies used in distressed spirits businesses, including lessons learned from recent bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings.Attendees will evaluate the advantages and limitations of bankruptcy, receiverships and out-of-court restructuring alternatives when addressing distress in the spirits industry.

Valuation plays a critical role in cross-border insolvency and litigation matters, yet it often arises late in proceedings, creating challenges for practitioners. This panel will provide a practical overview of common valuation and regulatory issues that arise across jurisdictions, highlight key valuation approaches, and share real-world examples to illustrate best practices for addressing valuation challenges in complex cross-border cases.

Liability management exercises (LMEs) have become a central feature of the restructuring landscape, offering companies flexible, out-of-court solutions to address balance-sheet stress. Yet as these transactions grow more sophisticated, they increasingly raise a fundamental question: Who determines enterprise value when the deal happens outside chapter 11? Without a court-supervised valuation process, value is shaped through negotiation leverage, capital structure design, cooperation agreements, and financial engineering tools such as uptiers, dropdowns and priming transactions. These techniques can optimize outcomes for participating creditors and companies, but they can also spark valuation disputes, litigation risk and longer-term stakeholder friction. This panel examines how valuation is constructed in out-of-court LMEs, and will provide a framework for evaluating whether an LME enhances enterprise value or merely redistributes it.Learning Objectives:Attendees will analyze how enterprise value is determined in liability management exercises conducted outside of Chapter 11, including the role of negotiation dynamics and capital structure design.Attendees will evaluate the impact of common LME techniques—such as uptiers, dropdowns, and priming transactions—on creditor recoveries and overall enterprise value.Attendees will assess the legal and practical risks associated with out-of-court valuation, including potential disputes, litigation exposure, and intercreditor conflicts

This Lunch and Learn session examines key issues arising in chapter 13 cases involving valuation disputes and the application of the automatic stay under § 362. The panelists discuss current case law, practical considerations for debtors and creditors, and strategic approaches to resolving contested valuation and stay-related matters.Learning Objectives:Attendees will interpret valuation principles commonly applied in Chapter 13 cases, including issues involving secured claims and collateral valuation disputes.Attendees will distinguish the scope and protections of the automatic stay under Section 362, including issues relating to stay relief and alleged stay violations.Attendees will formulate practical approaches for addressing and resolving valuation and Section 362 disputes in Chapter 13 proceedings.

This panel will address merchant cash advance financing, its history, structure, enforcement and treatment in bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy cases.

This session will present a concise, market‑focused look at distress in agricultural real estate. The panelists will define the scope of the ag sector, outline current market conditions, and identify the major drivers and asset types experiencing pressure. The discussion will cover distress pathways, valuation challenges, and the legal and regulatory factors shaping outcomes. Attendees will also gain insights into the roles of lenders and institutions, investor strategies and opportunities, key risks, and what the near‑term outlook suggests for stakeholders across the ag real estate landscape.Learning Objectives:Attendees will learn to:Identify the major asset types, market drivers and distress pathways currently affecting agricultural real estate across different regions.Apply specialized valuation methodologies and assess legal and regulatory factors unique to distressed agricultural property transactions.Evaluate investor strategies, institutional lender roles, and risk factors in agricultural real estate restructurings and workouts.