No CLE

Potential buyers often have significant leverage over distressed sellers of assets and are able to influence or dictate the nature of the sale process. This panel will examine the considerations that a potential buyer of a distressed company should make when it has the opportunity to choose the appropriate process and venue for pursuing such acquisition. We will outline the pros and cons of Article 9 sales (both public and private), receivership sales, § 363 sales and “loan to own” strategies, including with respect to issues related to successor liability, funding considerations, operational concerns, timing, legal risk and deal certainty.

The panel will discuss and contrast (and will invite the workshop attendees to discuss) the various options for ending chapter 11 cases after the debtor’s assets have been sold, including plans of liquidation, liquidation and litigation trusts, dismissals, structured dismissals and conversion. Issues will include things to consider when planning for the debtor’s wind-down staffing and budget. The panel will also discuss the rest of the story from the perspective of the § 363 purchaser, focusing on recent developments in successor liability.

A panel of eminent U.S. professionals will discuss current trends in U.S. insolvencies and restructurings, explore current legislation, comment on developments in the financial sector for distressed lending, and highlight any emerging trends.

From the outset of AMR's chapter 11 filing in November 2011, the Creditors' Committee focused on working closely and collaboratively with the Debtors to craft innovative solutions for the airlines' labor and pension issues and to systematically evaluate AMR's restructuring alternatives, identify a path for emergence that maximized the value of the airline, and craft a confirmable plan of reorganization that would command the strong support of general unsecured creditors and other economic stakeholders. The reorganization plan that was adopted relied on the consummation of a merger with US Airways, in order to combine American's and US Airways' complementary networks, increase convenience and efficiency and provide more options for customers, as well as facilitate AMR's transformation into a profitable and sustainable global airline. This roundtable of advisors will discuss how early labor and pension strategies led to the development of a standalone business plan which then could be compared to a potential merger inside chapter 11 – preserving the synergy values for chapter 11 stakeholders. The roundtable will also discuss the unique distribution mechanism that was adopted which avoided valuation disputes during the plan confirmation process in favor of a post-emergence "market test."

Individual chapter 11 cases remain mired in unique legal issues. This expert panel tours the case law including confirmation issues such as the effect of the Absolute Priority Rule

A star-studded cast of ABI notables will perform in this entertaining and informative Las Vegas production, written and produced exclusively for ABI. Reviewing the rules of evidence has certainly never been this fun. This is one luncheon that you won’t want to miss! Come for the food, stay for the show; we guarantee that you will learn something from this scholarly revue.

This panel will explore recent developments with respect to the absolute priority rule using a fact pattern/role-playing approach focused on the “Old San Juan”, a mythical family-owned hotel in Puerto Rico.

This panel will address the entitlement of a secured lender with a "blanket lien" on a company’s assets to share in the going concern or enterprise value of that company when it is liquidated in a § 363 sale or otherwise dealt with under a chapter 11 plan. The circumstances under which such sharing in “going concern” value has been permitted, the cases on both sides of the issue, and the policy arguments in favor of and against the secured lenders’ right to access such value to satisfy its secured claim will be explored.