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Financial projections often reflect the intent behind their creation, whether for sell-side transactions, buy-side due diligence, bank credit assessments, operational budgets or chapter 11 exit plans. This session will explore how these purposes impact the reasonableness of projections, including the potential for bias and the role of divergent stakeholder perspectives. Insights from company management, investment bankers, private-equity sponsors, creditor advisors, litigation experts and judges will shed light on best practices for evaluating the reliability and objectivity of projections in valuation and solvency analyses.

Despite the potential need to reassess liability management exercise (LME) structuring following the Fifth Circuit’s Serta decision, LMEs will continue to proliferate. Questions remain, though: Should we view LMEs as nothing more than free options for sponsors and a rearranging of deck chairs on a sinking ship? Or can they be a force for good, leading to improved enterprise value and corresponding improved returns to all creditors? If so, how can companies maximize the chances of their LME doing so? This panel will address these questions and more.

Brody Mullins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government. A veteran journalist with The Wall Street Journal, he has spent two decades uncovering the intersection of business and politics, exposing scandals that led to landmark reforms. His award-winning reporting has shaped public understanding of corporate influence in Washington, earning him accolades such as the George Polk Award and multiple Everett Dirksen Awards. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Politico and The Atlantic, and he has been featured on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

Technological disruption. Geopolitical forces. Counteracting supply-and-demand shifts. Volatile markets. Zero-carbon-generation portfolios. This session will explore the intersection of climate policy, energy policy, AI and other load growth factors, the fickle winds of U.S. and global government mandates/subsidies, and the impact on deal pricing, structure, post-closing viability and funding. The panelists also will provide a forward look at restructuring trends and investment opportunities.

Valuation often hinges on critical company-specific statistical and methodological decisions, raising questions about their necessity or potential for manipulation. This session will examine such topics as mean vs. median, discounts for lack of marketability, premiums for control, and size premiums and company-specific premiums, and will offer insights into how these decisions shape valuation outcomes.

Content valuation in the AI era presents unique challenges, as disputes over unauthorized use, such as those raised by The New York Times, highlight the need for innovative solutions. Stakeholders are increasingly turning to settlement and licensing frameworks that retroactively and prospectively value content. This session will address methodologies like the relief-from-royalty and venture capital methods, tackling complex issues of ownership, collateralization and growth projections with practical examples to illuminate these emerging dynamics.