Arkansas State Approved Sessions

This panel will discuss financing orders, milestones and other case management through the DIP facility. What should be allowed for case management by secured creditors via DIP-financing and/or cash-collateral orders, including the case milestones? What terms are and should be acceptable in first-day cash-collateral and DIP-financing orders (Aegean) — too much control, or simply adequate protection? What does it take for a third party to prime? This session will also focus on structural priming, including by taking liens on unencumbered foreign assets (Hexion), using DIP financing as a tool to protect pre-petition debt, the use of roll-ups, the ratio of new money to roll-up that is necessary/“market”, justifying a zero-new-money roll-up (EP Energy), providing a secured term loan pre-bankruptcy and using the proceeds as cash collateral, and rolling up pre-filing emergency loans (Westmoreland).

Join this session for a discussion on plan vs. statutory impairment (Ultra, PG&E), treatment of third-party releases/plan proponents (Millennium (3d Cir.), SunEdison and other recent S.D.N.Y./Del. Decisions; Emerge and Cloud Peak (Del.)), and classification (Novinda (10th Cir. BAP, litigation claims against a creditor justifies separate classification from other unsecureds)). Should all similarly situated creditors have the right to participate in rights offerings, financings, etc. (PacDrilling, Peabody)? The panelists will also discuss feasibility in light of the return of debtors to bankruptcy (including in the energy and retail space). Are reorganizations being rubber-stamped too easily?

Short- and long-term governmental goals linked to zero-carbon electricity-generation have fostered the increased deployment of renewable energy sources and improved transmission and storage distribution. In turn, renewable and alternative energy sources — in tandem with systemic lower natural gas prices and lower electricity demand — have and will continue to cause distress in the merchant power sector, notwithstanding random black swan events like February’s storm in Texas. No doubt the road ahead will be ridden by complexity, not just in relation to market, environmental and economic dynamics, but because of the outsized role Federal law plays in the industry, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Federal Power Act and the Bankruptcy Code. This session’s panelists, all of whom have experience in the renewable energy and power sectors, will discuss valuation and other relevant issues in the context of expanding alternative and renewable energy sources, and the pressures this expansion will have on the merchant power sector.

Whether you are a seasoned practitioner looking for a refresher on basic concepts or are venturing into the area of distressed business valuation for the first time, this session provides a toolbox overview of the fundamentals of valuation methodology. Topics include: definitions of value commonly used valuation methodologies CAPM and MCAPM application of systemic and unsystemic risk adjustments

The global coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the global economy for more than a year creating winners and losers across countries, industries and socio-economic groups. Among the most impacted industries continue to be hospitality, leisure and real estate industries where, despite progress made in vaccinations towards herd immunity, there is no clear recovery timetable in evidence. This roundtable of investors and advisors will explore Covid-19’s impact on valuation and restructuring, including how companies and their stakeholders address liquidity to bridge a distressed company to its pre-pandemic performance levels and the how creditors and equity sponsors navigate these fluid dynamics to maximize their recovery.

A professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, Aswath Damodaran will share his research interests in valuation, portfolio management and applied corporate finance. Prof. Damodaran will take you through several top themes of valuation, the biggest stories of the market in 2021 (so far), the price of risk and so much more.

It's no secret that large-chain entertainment companies such as theaters and theme parks have been suffering through the pandemic. This panel will discuss restructuring options, hurdles and prospects for a broad array of these entities. The panelists will also discuss and debate the dynamics related to the fact that company projections and capital markets have priced in substantial recoveries for these entities in the second half of 2021.

While COVID-19 has led to a substantial increase in the number of bankruptcy filings, its impact on valuation issues in the context of chapter 11 cases is less clear. Employing their differing perspectives, the panelists will explore how the uncertainty created by COVID-19 has affected the analysis of issues like plan feasibility, cost of capital, the pricing of risk, and the application of valuation methodologies in chapter 11 proceedings, with a particular emphasis on retail cases.

Chesapeake Energy, an exploration and production company, filed for chapter 11 on June 28, 2020, in the Southern District of Texas and emerged from bankruptcy on Feb. 9, 2021. This session’s panelists, all of whom were involved in the bankruptcy court hearings, will contrast (in a non-advocating fashion) the different valuation methodologies used by the debtors’ and UCC’s valuation experts with the primary legal arguments raised by the debtors’ and UCC’s legal teams.

The panelists will revisit real estate and real estate-based business workouts, bankruptcies and restructurings during the peak of the pandemic and extrapolate the lessons learned as guidance for debtors, tenants, landlords and investors moving forward as we begin the recovery period. The panelists also will focus on important pandemic bankruptcy cases and key rulings on leases and workout strategies, and will assess issues surrounding asset valuations and projections.