In recent weeks, a number of transactions have come across our desks involving levered feeders set up as an investment vehicle for insurance-related investors. For regulatory reasons, these vehicles are established such that each such investor’s commitment is comprised of both a loan commitment (the “Debt Commitment”) and an equity commitment (the “Equity Commitment”). This structure presents a challenge for lenders trying to balance the requested borrowing base treatment for investor commitments of this type against the potential bankruptcy implications that this structure poses.
A new wave of bankruptcy filings for leveraged oil and gas companies has begun and this time it may involve more prepacks and less optimism. Beginning in late 2015 and continuing through 2017, downtown Houston was filled with bankruptcy lawyers. Highly leveraged exploration and production (or E&P) companies had become crippled by falling oil prices and the resulting impact on the value of their producing and non-producing reserves in their borrowing bases.
A number of recent structurings of investment-grade rated securitizations of oil and gas wells are sparking conversations in the U.S. upstream oil and gas industry about this relatively new, structured finance product. Although structured finance products are not new to the industry, interest in these products has been rekindled as exploration and production (“E&P”) companies seek alternatives to the more traditional reserve-based loans, equity financing, and bond issuances.
Breaking from the overwhelming majority of prior case law, two bankruptcy courts recently held that Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements can be assigned as part of a Section 363 bankruptcy sale free and clear of the assignor’s liabilities under the provider agreements.
A “little bit of a crisis” was averted last week in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, a Philadelphia-area hospital with ties to Hahnemann University Hospital, which is also a Chapter 11 debtor.[1] On Tuesday, Delaware bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross said he could not approve a $65 million DIP loan requested by St.
In response to the increasing prevalence of general partner (GP)-led secondary fund restructurings, the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) has released guidance regarding this practice. The purpose of this guidance is to promote transparency and efficiency in the secondary process.
The ILPA has defined these restructurings as transactions that offer one of the following:
The first step in determining if a subscription credit facility, often called a capital call facility (a “Subscription Facility”), is a viable option for a private equity or similar investment fund (a “Fund”) is to diligence the limited partnership agreement or other organizational document of the Fund (the “LPA”). Subscription Facility lenders usually require that specific concepts and language be included in an LPA in order to provide a Subscription Facility without additional credit support, such as investor consent letters.
In a recent significant opinion, Judge Marvin Isgur of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas held that a springing lien to senior noteholders, conditioned on the amount of iHeart notes outstanding, was not triggered where an iHeart subsidiary repurchased notes and left them outstanding past maturity.1 The Court rejected various creditor arguments that the notes were canceled as a matter of law, or that actions to avoid the springing lien entitled creditors to equitable remedies.
On January 16, 2019, Gymboree Group, Inc. and 10 affiliated debtors (collectively, “Debtors” or “Gymboree”) filed chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond Division). On January 17, 2019, Gymboree, Inc. commenced a parallel proceeding in Canada under subsection 50.4(a) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada).
Many of us were raised to believe that Santa Claus delivers our gifts before we wake up on Christmas Day. If you believe, behave, and send your wish list on time, you are virtually certain to receive what you want for Christmas. As we grow older, some of us (not me) begin to doubt the existence of Santa. But, with the growth of e-commerce within the last decade, no one can deny that more and more gifts are being delivered Santa-style. And for those who do not believe, well, the lesson has been costly.