No CLE

Cramdown interest rate (Momentive); extent of security interest (ResCap); credit-bidding (Fisker, Free Lance-Star Publishing); date of collateral valuation. Will Till and Momentive change future bankruptcies? How will pre-bankruptcy and DIP financing change? What new or different issues will arise at the beginnings and endings of cases? Will contested confirmation become the norm? Will secured lenders be less willing to support a bankruptcy process? Will include discussion of changes proposed in the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11’s Final Report relating to secured creditor rights.

Recent decades have seen substantial expansion in exemptions from the Bankruptcy Code’s provisions with respect to repurchase agreements, or “repos.” These agreements, which are equivalent to very-short-term (often one-day) secured loans, are exempt from such core bankruptcy provisions as the automatic stay, the avoidability of fraudulent transfers and the avoidability of preferences. Recent scholarship has questioned whether these exemptions are justified for mortgage-backed securities and other securities that could prove illiquid or unable to realize their long-term value in the event of the kind of panic experienced during the financial crisis of 2007-09. This panel will explore the arguments for and against revising the Bankruptcy Code’s existing treatment of these agreements.

The Final Report of the Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 is the culmination of more than two years of testimony, advisory reports and deliberations. This panel will present key finds as submitted to Congress and includes several members of the Commission and the official reporter.

News from Radio Shack. Effect of the ABI Commission recommendations on retail cases. Sales free and clear of leaseholds: The conflict between §§ 363(f) and 365(h); In re Revel Casino.

The statement of intent and its value to the bankruptcy process will be the focus of this panel’s discussion, along with an updated look at the so-called fourth option: the debtor’s ride-through.

Even though the Commission recommended no curtailing of credit-bidding rights, challenges continue. More on GM: Can an order really be free and clear of successor liability, and what is successor liability, anyway?