Missouri (MO) Bankruptcy Law CLE Course Catalog

This panel will examine creditors vs. creditors in liability-management transactions (Boardriders, Serta, Travelport, Trimark), collective actions and credit bidding (Speedcast, Alta Masa, Empire Generating, Allied), strict foreclosure in light of TIA 316(b) (CNH Diversified Opportunities v. Cleveland Unlimited), de facto claim-subordination (La Paloma), rights preserved for junior creditors under an intercreditor agreement (do the exceptions swallow the rule (Claires, Momentive)?), and practical considerations such as coordination agreements, unitranche facilities and CLOs in restructurings.

This panel will compare and contrast liquidations and wind-downs under chapter 11, federal and state receiverships, ABCs, and judicial dissolutions. The panelists also will take a look at tools that are available and the risks attendant to each. Which companies are more appropriate for which type of liquidation option: cannabis and related company insolvencies, or higher education institutions?

This panel will discuss common valuation challenges and responses, and provide insight into piecing together multiple valuation techniques. The panelists will also touch upon identifying reasonable comps for similar companies and precedent transactions, reliance on/restating projections, and where valuation and liquidation analyses blend together, including non-cash-flowing assets.

This panel also will cover topics ranging from access to courts, to the increased use of inherent judicial power, to virtual trials, to valuation and compromise in uncertain (unprecedented) times, to recent developments in avoidance actions.

What do attorneys and other professionals need to know when preparing chapter 11 liquidation plans? This panel will discuss selecting a trust, LLC, plan administrator or other vehicle; ensuring that affirmative claims are preserved post-confirmation; searching for unencumbered assets; negotiating carve-outs; establishing a value/tax basis in litigation claims and other assets transferred to a trust or LLC; key plan provisions such as preserving 2004 discovery rights, creditor oversight, continuing court oversight, required reporting and retention/transfer of attorney/client privilege; trading of interests; provisions for closing the case; and structured dismissals following asset sales as an alternative to a liquidating plan.

This panel will focus on different strategies sponsors are using to retain control (or at least put a stake through) the bankruptcy process. What are the risks to sponsors/litigation issues? The panelists will also discuss fiduciary duties, managing conflicts and retaining separate counsel, the interplay between corporate governance and aggressive sponsor action (e.g., selling or spinning/stripping-off assets), sponsor affiliates purchasing debt in the portfolio company’s capital structure, and 10b-5 compliance, as well as negotiating/litigating with a difficult board. This session also includes a discussion of issues that arise when dealing with a challenging board of directors, especially those where some or all directors have been appointed by a controlling shareholder.

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?

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.

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.