Retail

This session will explore the causes, consequences and restructuring trends inherent in health care and retail bankruptcies, with a focus on private-equity involvement, regulatory challenges and operational missteps. The panelists will highlight potential cross-industry themes and relevant case studies.

Energy Megatrends create volatility in the energy market. In 2024, elections, various regional conflicts, concerns about climate change, and the feasibility and marketability of various forms of energy make the valuation of “energy” a potentially tenuous endeavor. This session provides a how-to guide for five-year business plans, capital-adequacy tests and cash-flow tests across the energy industry, and discusses how to meet the bar for stress-testing under Judge Shannon’s Kravitz v. Sampson Energy decision. Retail- Douglas E. Spelfogel Jonathan P. Goulding Surbhi Gupta Hon. Thomas M. Horan Commercial Real Estate- David Levy Navin Nagrani Specialty Health Care Providers/Pharma- Stuart Neiberg David Light Kelly E. Singer Sidney S. Welch Energy- Lorie R. Beers Kenneth J. Malek Matthew W. Moran

This panel will discuss changes across the retail bankruptcy landscape over the last four to five years — before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists will share their perspectives from the debtor, lender, landlord and judicial viewpoints, with a focus on the business, leverage, operational and legal causes and outcomes of retail bankruptcies during these unprecedented times.

This panel will discuss the current (post-COVID) landscape of retail and franchise cases, as well as pre-filing issues, first-day issues, post-filing “right-sizing” and § 363 sale issues.

On direct appeal, the Third Circuit on Jan. 30 reversed the bankruptcy court and directed the dismissal of the petition that had been filed by LTL Management LLC, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson created to file in chapter 11 to deal with talc and asbestos claims arising from the sale of Johnson’s Baby Powder. Although Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro pointedly declined to rule on whether LTL improperly used chapter 11 as a “litigation tactic,” what are the legal steps J&J can take to settle roughly 40,000 cancer lawsuits concerning its talc-based products? A panel of top academics will examine the decision and the issues surrounding J&J's case, and will discuss what could happen with the case moving forward.

Sponsored by ABI's Real Estate Committee Please join ABI's Real Estate Committee for a dynamic 2022 economic outlook presentation featuring a real estate economist and professionals. Topics will include a review of the industrial, hospitality, retail and office sectors; the impact of inflation on the real estate economy; last-mile logistics; and other timely topics to arm practitioners with important knowledge about the real estate economy. The program will conclude with a question-and-answer period.

This panel will focus on the current crisis in the restaurant and retail sectors, looking at the financial, operational and regulatory impacts of the pandemic, landlord-tenant disputes and other restructuring challenges.

Are there limits to “free and clear” (GM)? This panel will discuss sales free and clear of leasehold interests, restrictive covenants and override royalties; conflicts between §§ 365 and 363(f) (lease- or license-stripping); assets free and clear of successorship in CBAs; selling free and clear of environmental liabilities (La Paloma, Exide); loan-to-own strategies; and the treatment of breakup fees (C&K Market, EFH).

The panelists will discuss COVID-related business bankruptcy issues, including rent issues in commercial leases, § 365(d)(3) issues, force majeure clauses, and lease assumption and rejection issues after COVID.

Provocative Ideas Worth Spreading in the Bankruptcy Community: • Divisive Mergers • Retail Bankruptcies: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going • Derivatives in Bankruptcy: The Basics • New UST Fees and Their Potential Impact