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General Unsecured Creditor
90 Second Lesson: Secured Creditors and Toll Charges
QUESTION: An investment banker recently wrote in, saying this: “I am currently helping a troubled company sell itself. The proposed buyer wants to buy its assets through a 363 sale in Chapter 11 and is offering to pay the full amount the bank is owed on its secured debt. The bank is pushing back, trying […]
File Early and Often: Filing and Amending Claims in a Bankruptcy Case
A Primer for Those Holding Bankruptcy Claims Against a Debtor Bankruptcy claims do more than simply determine the amount of money a creditor is owed or can receive as a distribution. Claims also can generate clout. Clout enables a creditor to sit on a creditor committee, have more leverage in negotiations, and claim a higher-priority […]
When Your Customer Files for Bankruptcy
You Still Have Options In the Event of a Customer Bankruptcy When a customer files for bankruptcy, vendors with debts owed by the customer/debtor that arose before the commencement of the case (the “Petition Date”) can be exposed to considerable losses. Once the case is filed, the vendor becomes a creditor with a claim against […]
Opportunities in Bankruptcy: Turning Coal Into Diamonds
“The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” – Baron Rothschild Don’t Panic, There Are Many Opportunities in Bankruptcy When a client or a competitor files for bankruptcy, it is natural to reflect on the downside. What’s going to happen to my outstanding receivable? Is the market primed for a downturn? How […]
Absolute Priority Rule in Bankruptcy: Are You Atop the List?
If you are a vendor, service provider or another unsecured creditor to a chapter 11 debtor, you cannot be blamed for feeling like a duped lover after learning about the bankruptcy of your once devoted business companion. Despite the promises that “I’ll stand by you if you stand by me,” all those outstanding invoices won’t […]
What Constitutes the “Legal Rate” in a Solvent Debtor Bankruptcy Case?
Chapter 11 bankruptcies find the debtor generally to be insolvent, but not always. Occasionally, a debtor will emerge from the bankruptcy process as a solvent entity, and in those situations, Bankruptcy Code §726(a)(5) may entitle creditors of the debtor’s estate to post-petition “interest at the legal rate from the date of filing the petition.”[1] In […]
Unsecured Creditors Prevail Against the UCC-1
In the realm of lending, the perfected Uniform Commercial Code-1 (“UCC-1”) is the hallmark of security. If a secured asset has value, and the liens are valid, what other issues are there to consider? Well, in at least one instance, underlying intercompany notes were the issue. And because of the nature of these notes, the […]
A Primer on the Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO)
A Brief History of the Chief Restructuring Officer The role of a Chief Restructuring Officer (“CRO”) is approximately four decades old. While still a somewhat new role in the 1990s, CROs are now ubiquitous in the restructuring community. Todd Zywicki, a George Mason law professor who specializes in bankruptcy law, traces the origin of the […]
Dealing with Distress For Fun & Profit – Installment #14 – An Introduction to Chapter 11 for Unsecured Creditors: What Every Unsecured Creditor Should Know
A written tour of business bankruptcy and its alternatives. If you would like to read from the beginning, this series started here with a broad overview of business bankruptcy. Most recently, the series has focused on the automatic stay, where you can find the 30,000-foot view. Or you can find more specific treatment here, here and […]
Optimizing Corporate Workouts With Independent Directors and Special Committees
The appointment of independent directors may benefit a financially distressed business throughout its restructuring process, including during a bankruptcy case. An independent director can be conceived of as having no direct or indirect connection to the business, including not being an employee, owner, or other insider of the business and not deriving any income from […]