Morgan Lewis on Restructuring
Our lawyers have long represented JPMorgan Chase Bank (and its predecessors) as agent for syndicates including Oneida, Ltd., LTV Steel, Iridium, Caldor Corporation, and Petrie Stores; Wachovia Bank in Le-Nature’s, Sleepmaster, and Wolf Camera, and as an exit lender in Genesis HealthCare; Mellon Bank in AHERF and as agent for syndicates in Genesis HealthCare and MultiCare; and Credit Suisse First Boston in the Enron case.
We are leaders in representing financial institutions providing postpetition DIP financing to debtors and have been involved in some of the largest DIP financings ever extended. We have represented JPMorgan Chase and Citicorp USA as DIP agents and arrangers in the United Airlines Chapter 11, as well as in the exit financing that was entered into in connection with the consummation of United’s Chapter 11 plan and a refinancing of the exit a year later. We have also represented JPMorgan Chase as DIP agent and arranger in, among numerous other financings, Tower Automotive, Kmart (which at the time was the largest DIP financing ever provided), American Commercial Lines (in which we also represented JPMorgan Chase for purposes of exit financing), Armstrong World Industries, Burlington Industries, Polaroid, Bruno’s, Harnischfeger Industries, Paragon Trade Brands, and, among retailers, Barneys, Bradlees Stores, Caldor, and R.H. Macy. We have also represented Wachovia Bank in DIP financings including Guilford Mills, Galey & Lord, and Loewen.
Our firm has represented official creditors' committees in the Chapter 11 cases of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Valley Media, Camelot Music, Video Update, United Merchants & Manufacturers, Peaches Entertainment, Peter Kalikow, Cambridge Factors, and John Coleman (d/b/a Ritz Carlton). We also have represented unofficial committees in the leading music retail and wholesale bankruptcies of Alliance Entertainment, Wherehouse Entertainment, Record World, Wall to Wall Sound & Video, and Strawberries.
Our lawyers have also represented debtors in such cases as Riverstone, Kleinert’s, Zany Brainy, Global Ocean Carriers, Clark Material Handling Company, and eGlobe.
We are representing CDR Créances, S.A.S., a corporation indirectly owned by the Republic of France, as mortgagee and judgment creditor of Euro-American Lodging Corporation (EALC) in connection with EALC's bankruptcy proceeding in SDNY. This is a complex cross-border matter involving Chapter 7 and 15 proceedings.
In the Montgomery Ward and Venture Stores Chapter 11 cases, our lawyers represented Kimco Realty Corporation in connection with the acquisition of substantially all of the debtor's designation rights or real estate assets, and in National Steel, we represented United States Steel Corporation in its $1 billion acquisition of substantially all the assets of the debtor.
Our team frequently defends financial institutions in litigation involving lender liability, fraudulent conveyance, and preference claims.
Our lawyers are certified as mediators by various district and bankruptcy courts and frequently serve in such capacity at the request of the court or the litigants.
Engagements of our lawyers have also included the role of examiner in Granite Partners, L.P. (the Askin bankruptcies) to determine the adequacy of disclosures made by professionals to the court.