2015

From labor disputes in the American Airlines case to the negotiation of chapter 9 plans for Detroit, Stockton and San Bernardino, bankruptcy judges have looked to their colleagues to serve as mediators. What is the impact of this practice? Does it change the dynamics among the parties? Is there a role for private-sector mediators? Going forward, will bankruptcy cases continue to be fertile ground for alternative dispute resolution?

This panel will discuss and debate, from varying perspectives, the rise in formation of official equity committees in chapter 11 cases, how advisors can reach different valuations to support or oppose their formation, the role of the Office of the U.S. Trustee, and the ultimate value added to the estate.

Both equity investors and lenders often evaluate potential transactions in the context of their overall portfolios as well as the potential value proposition presented by the specific opportunity. Capital providers pay attention to risk allocation across industry sectors and asset classes, among other investment considerations. This panel will discuss the role that asset valuation and enterprise valuation play in deal making and strategic portfolio management.

This ABI Live Webinar — New Developments in Student Loans: Need to Know — will focus on three areas: dischargeability litigation, treatment in Chapter 13 and the status of student loans as a national economic crisis. Presented by members of ABI’s Consumer Committee, the webinar will include perspectives from both the debtor and lender sides, offering practitioners valuable balanced insights that they can use in their daily practice.

Presented by ABI's Labor and Employment Committee, this webinar will address current employee- and labor-related issues in chapter 11 and out-of-court restructurings, including: (a) whether private-equity sponsors may be subject to pension fund withdrawal liability under ERISA in light of the First Circuit’s Sun Capital decision; (b) whether pension plan withdrawal liability is entitled to administrative claim status; and (c) the status of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s moratorium on 4062(e) enforcement. Attorneys and other restructuring professionals who deal with the PBGC will learn about current developments in this dynamic and changing area of law, which plays an important role in many reorganizations today.

This panel will focus on developments related to the use of liquidating trusts from both the legal and financial reporting perspectives. Expected topics will include the use of liquidating trusts in the prosecution of actions on behalf of, and for the benefit, of creditors (and the financial concerns, timing, and fiduciary concerns that accompany the prosecution of the same), and the application of recent accounting pronouncements related to liquidation accounting and the accompanying valuation considerations.

Issues surrounding the assessment and quantification of long-term, unliquidated obligations; such as pensions, environmental remediation, and perpetual care of cemeteries, are complex and divisive. This panel will explore the issues, as well as methods and techniques, to be considered when assessing and quantifying such debt in the context of financial distress and bankruptcy.

Valuation is a critical, and often hotly disputed, issue in most bankruptcy cases. Enterprise valuations drive creditor recoveries, and solvency valuations are often outcome-determinative for the success (or failure) of fraudulent transfer and other bankruptcy-related litigation. As a result, valuation disputes often become mini-battles of the experts, the reasonableness of their assumptions and their relative credibility. Disputes usually center around those items where the expert has made subjective adjustments based on professional judgment, and even small adjustments can lead to substantial differences in value. This panel explores those issues that are most often “adjusted” based on professional judgment, including normalizing EBITDA, methodology weighting, treatment of excess cash, control premiums, minority discounts, liquidity discounts, and contingent assets and liabilities.

Using a case study approach, this panel will examine the restructuring alternatives of a typical mid-cap company, with mock negotiations between and among a distressed company, its senior secured bank lenders, its mezzanine lenders and the equity. The presentation will focus on valuation, along with the benefits and burdens of (1) bankruptcy, (2) exercising the rights and remedies of a secure lender, (3) a consensual out-of-court restructuring and (4) the techniques and strategies for each constituency to achieve its goals.

A review and analysis of the cost, market and income (cash flow) approaches in business valuation, including key assumptions in each of these valuation methodologies and a discussion of how academics and practitioners vary in their approaches.