Bloomberg reports on slowing U.S. growth as trade wars weigh on businesses [Yahoo News, Bloomberg; July 26, 2019]
Windstream’s dispute with its REIT spinoff Uniti heats up, as Windstream seeks to recharacterize its $650 million-per-year lease agreement with Uniti as a disguised financing [Law360; July 25, 2019]
Virginia congressman’s bill on small business bankruptcy reform
The Momentive Performance Materials bankruptcy resulted in a number of disputes on issues germane to bankruptcy practitioners, including on intercreditor agreements (as we wrote about here), the enforceability of makewhole premiums and the proper interest rate in the context of a Chapter 11 cramdown plan. On that third issue, Judge Drain entered an order on remand in April addressing the proper cram-down rate for two classes of senior noteholders that had been issued replacement notes under Momentive’s Chapter 11 plan. Given the notices of appeal filed just days later, it looked like another round of appellate review might occur. But on May 15, Momentive announced that it had elected to refinance those notes, resulting in a voluntary dismissal of the appeals.
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Could the US already be in a recession? [USA Today; June 25, 2019]
Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board proposes bankruptcy plan framework that would cut debt payments by half over the next 30 years [CNBC; June 16, 2019]
As part of proposed agreement between CFPB, attorneys general from 43 states and defunct for-profit
On June 19, Nicole Saharsky, co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Supreme Court & Appellate practice, discussed how free enterprise fared in the latest US Supreme Court term. A webinar of the program is available here.
As discussed in our earlier post, during this term, Nicole and a Mayer Brown team which included partner (and
In this four-part You Tube series, Mayer Brown partner Jason Elder offers practical insights on high-yield debt for Asia-based issuers seeking to understand important covenants and trends.
Supreme Court agrees to review constitutional challenge to board overseeing bankrupt Puerto Rico’s finances [WSJ; June 20, 2019]
The question of whether a debtor’s plan of reorganization can include non-consensual releases for non-debtor parties has been hotly contested for several years, with circuit courts oftentimes split. In his recent decision on the topic in the Aegean case, New York Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles explored the limitations on such releases even
Bipartisan proposal for new small business provisions in Bankruptcy Code [American Bankruptcy Institute Journal; May 2019]
Latest memo from Oaktree’s Howard Marks on why this time market cycle isn’t different [OakTree; June 12, 2019]
Is the “vast” liquidity in the market a mirage? Bloomberg chimes in [Bloomberg; June 13, 2019]
Without additional explanation, the Supreme Court recently denied NextEra’s request for further review of its $275 million break fee request following the scuttling of its multi-billion dollar transaction to acquire the majority of Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s assets (see item 8 under “Certiorari Denied” list here).
Following the bankruptcy court’s reconsideration (and reversal) of
Over the past several years in the US, commentators have noted the resurgence of covenant lite deals, including increasingly in the middle market and direct lending space. When (as?) the credit cycle turns, naysayers worry that these structures may impact lender recoveries, as borrowers lack incentive to start restructuring discussions with their lenders until it