Valuation Developments and Disputes: Where Are We Now?

Dr. Faten Sabry, APS is a managing director and chair of NERA Economic Consulting’s Global Securities and Finance practice in New York and chairs its Bankruptcy Practice. She is also chair of NERA’s Bankruptcy Litigation Practice and leads the Securities and Finance Practice’s subprime task force.

Dr. Sabry has performed analyses involving issues of class certification, econometric modeling, liability, fraudulent conveyance, and damages in cases ranging from contract disputes to valuing a portfolio of mortgages. She also has assessed risk management models and examined the prudence of investments including hedging strategies.

Dr. Sabry has consulted on the valuation of fixed income securities, derivatives, businesses and litigation settlements. In particular, she has consulted on complex securities including cash and synthetic CDOs, as well as asset- and mortgage-backed securities. In addition, she has evaluated rating agencies’ models, loan loss prediction models and cash-flow models.

Dr. Sabry has testified as an expert at trial in state and federal courts, as well as at a FINRA proceeding. Her product-liability work includes estimating the future liabilities in cases involving asbestos, silica, pharmaceutical products, medical devices, automobiles and construction products; analyzing liabilities related to environmental contamination in cases including the Met-Coil bankruptcy Trust and the future silica and asbestos liabilities for the Tyler Pipe/Swan Transportation bankruptcy trust; assessing recall costs and diminution of value for automobile and construction products; analyzing insurance allocation; applying statistical and content analyses to examine product identification; and analyzing class certification in consumer class actions, including actions related to consumer finance and credit as well as automobile recalls.

Dr. Sabry’s research has been published in the Journal of Structured Finance, Journal of Investment Compliance, Journal of Alternative Investments, Business Economics, International Trade Journal and others. She has been accredited as a professional statistician by the American Statistics Association and is a member of the advisory board of VALCON. She also is a member of ABI and the American Finance Association.

Dr. Sabry received her B.A. magna cum laude and her M.A. from American University in Cairo, and her Ph.D. from Stanford Business School, where she was awarded the J.M. Olin Graduate Fellowship, the Graduate School of Business Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Fellowship.

David M. Posner is a partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP in New York and focuses his practice on bankruptcy and insolvency matters. He represents creditors’ committees, chapter 11 trustees, acquirers, indenture trustees and other significant parties-in-interest in complex reorganizations and financially distressed situations, as well as debtor/creditor rights and commercial litigation. In addition, he has substantial litigation experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation inside the context of complex reorganization cases and in state and federal courts across the country.

Mr. Posner has been involved in all aspects of pre-trial proceedings, preliminary-injunction hearings, motion practice, applications, mediation, objections and other contested matters. He has tried both jury and non-jury trials in bankruptcy, state and federal courts.

Mr. Posner received his B.A. magna cum laude in political science and philosophy from Syracuse University in 1984 and his J.D. cum laude in 1988 from Syracuse University College of Law, where he was senior editor of the Syracuse Law Review.

Madlyn Gleich Primoff is a partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus & Deringer LLP in New York and a member of Freshfields’ Finance and Risk Committee. She has more than 25 years of experience representing lending groups, global financial institutions, creditors’ committees, private-equity funds and hedge funds in contentious chapter 11 cases, out-of-court insolvency matters, workouts and restructurings, pre-arranged chapter 11 cases, and related litigation matters. She also has substantial cross-border insolvency experience, including chapter 15 cases and parallel proceedings.

Ms. Primoff is regularly called upon by her clients to act as “first chair” trial counsel in contentious restructuring matters and insolvency-related litigations. She has expertise in metals and mining, energy and infrastructure, consumer products, financial services, agriculture, entertainment, media, communications, shipping and health care, including device manufacturing and distribution.

Ms. Primoff is ranked as a leading attorney in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Expert Guides – Women in Business Law. She has also been named the “Best in Insolvency and Restructuring” – Americas Women in Business Law Awards (2016) by Euromoney.

Ms. Primoff received her B.A. magna cum laude from Cornell University and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Christopher is a recognized leader in the M&A and restructuring community with over 20 years of investment banking, financial restructuring, and principal investment experience. Christopher’s experience spans many industries with a focus on renewable energy (biofuels, renewable natural gas, solar and other technologies), financial services, industrials, real estate, healthcare, consumer products, shipping, business services and media. He has closed over 100 transactions in his career encompassing a wide variety of complex situations, including debt-to-equity conversions, mergers, reorganizations, equity and junior capital financing, as well as asset and corporate stock purchases and sales, in and out of bankruptcy. He has advised a significant number of public and private companies in a wide range of industries, advising Boards of Directors, management teams, investors, and creditor groups.

Prior to joining Teneo, Christopher served as Partner, Co-Head of Investment Banking and Member of the Management Committee of Carl Marks Advisors for 14 years, successfully growing the investment banking practice into an industry leading boutique Before joining Carl Marks in 2003, Christopher was a Vice President in JP Morgan’s Global M&A Group focused in New York and London for seven years. Prior to his career in banking, Christopher served in various roles in international trade including Special Assistant to the Trade Policy Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) and Assistant Manager in Itochu International’s Machinery Group.

Christopher has been deemed an expert witness in various courts nationally and has testified in numerous contested matters on various subject matters including valuation, feasibility, bidding and auction procedures, sale processes, bid protections, DIP financing, interest rates, plans of reorganization, substantive consolidation, option valuation, and 1111(b) notes among other topics.

Christopher was named Restructuring Banker of the Year in both 2013 and 2014 in the boutique and middle market categories, Distressed M&A Banker of the Year in 2016 by the Turnaround Atlas Awards, and consistently ranked as a Top 5 Bankruptcy Investment Banker by The Daily Deal, among many other awards and recognitions.

Christopher earned a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University. He serves on a number of boards including the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Career Development (ICD), a non-profit organization devoted to vocational rehabilitation for the disabled, and on the Board of Global Maritime Investments. Christopher is a FINRA Securities Principal.

Hon. John K. Sherwood is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey in Newark, appointed in June 2015. In private practice, he had more than 25 years of experience in bankruptcy and debtor/creditor matters, including related litigation. Some of his noteworthy engagements were Ocean Place Development Resort (counsel to debtor), MagnaChip Semiconductor Finance Co. (counsel to creditors’ committee), Quebecor World (USA) Inc. (litigation counsel), Le Nature’s Inc. (counsel to creditors’ committee) and the City of Detroit (counsel to union).

Judge Sherwood was president of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation from 2008-13 and an active member of ABI and the Turnaround Management Association. He was selected by Chambers USA from 2013- 14 as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and he was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (2012-15) for his work in bankruptcy and in Super Lawyers (2006, 2009-14), where he was featured in the bankruptcy section and corporate counsel edition.

Judge Sherwood received his undergraduate degree from James Madison University in 1983 and his J.D. in 1986 from Seton Hall University School of Law.