Ice Miller LLP: Insights

Distressed Opportunity Bulletin - Issue 2

Distressed Opportunity Bulletin

Ice Miller launched its Distressed Investment Group ("DIG") to identify and facilitate distressed investment opportunities and assist clients through creative and strategic acquisitions and investments in bankruptcies, in-court restructurings, out-of-court restructurings and other insolvency-related transactions.

DIG is comprised of some of Ice Miller's most experienced and entrepreneurial bankruptcy, corporate restructuring, finance, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and tax attorneys. Its members have significant experience advising clients on loan-to-own strategies, debt and equity sales and restructurings, recapitalizations, note purchase loans, debtor-in-possession and exit financings, claims trading, distressed real estate acquisitions, section 363 sales, rescue capital deployment, and other insolvency-related and special situations transactions in the context of chapter 11 cases and proceedings, defaulted-loan litigation, workouts, foreclosures, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, Article 9 sales, assignments for the benefit of creditors, and receiverships.

DIG’s members regularly advise investment funds, private and institutional investors, lenders, private equity firms, operators and other interested parties in all aspects of strategic distressed investing and related transactions. Its members frequently serve as bond counsel, issuer's counsel, bank counsel, and underwriter's counsel in a variety of taxable and tax-exempt municipal financings involving hospitals, health systems, senior living providers, single- and multi-family housing projects, airports, 501(c)(3) organizations, state and local governmental issuers and municipal power agencies.

DIG’s members also have significant experience representing private and institutional investors, including private equity real estate funds and REITs, developers and operators in the acquisition, redevelopment and operation of distressed real estate across various asset classes.

To learn more about DIG or any opportunities listed in this Bulletin or, if you have any opportunities you’d like us to share in our next Bulletin, please visit our webpage or contact any of our DIG members.

Visit our webpage

Contact a DIG Member

Chelsea Abramowitz
Jay Augustyn
Jason Berne
John Burke
Guillermo Christensen
Phillip Coover
Tyson Crist
Louis DeLucia
Matt Ehinger
Alyson Fiedler
Christina Fugate
Philip Genetos
Jane Herndon
Jeff Hokanson
Tyler Kalachnik
Laurie Miller
David Nie
Thomas Pampush
Eric Singer
Taryn Stone
Jason Torf
Kevin Woodhouse
J.C. Brown
John Cannizzaro
Michael Ott
Amir Ovcina
Jeff Karas
Simone Park
John Acquaviva
Marita Clarke
Kim Stapleton

Opportunities in
the distressed market

Please click the chart below to download a full PDF of currently available distressed investment opportunities.

dig in the news

Why You Should Consider DIP Lending

It may seem counterintuitive for banks and other lenders to provide loans to companies in bankruptcy, but they often do. All companies, especially those in bankruptcy, need liquidity to continue operating. Ensuring the availability of cash is one of the most important considerations in a Chapter 11 reorganization because debtors are often unable to reorganize without adequate cash flow. The market for debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing is significant.

Fiduciary Duties of Directors of Insolvent Nonprofit Corporations

As the economic turmoil triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak continues, directors and officers of nonprofit corporations should pay heightened attention to their fiduciary duties and responsibilities and specifically how those duties shift when the nonprofit corporation is approaching insolvency or becomes insolvent.

Current Status of Bankruptcy Remote Entities

As lenders prepare for a world with an increased risk of borrower failures, liquidations, and bankruptcies, many have begun focusing on requiring that borrowers form special purpose entities (“SPEs”) to mitigate against those risks. In this publication, we explore how recent case law has viewed the formation and use of SPEs and which structures have been more effective than others.

Navigating Distressed Investing, Sales and Technology: Protecting Your Sale Process, Your Investments and Your Hide

We hope you didn’t miss Emerging Industry and Technology and Secured Credit Committees’ panel discussion at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Winter Leadership Conference held on December 3 featuring Louis DeLucia, Chair of Ice Miller’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice. The panel explored and navigated distressed investing issues relating to sales of technology and IP under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, and buyer identification in a virtual landscape. Please reach out to Louis DeLucia for any questions, comments or further discussion.

Dig Webinars

DIG hosts relevant and timely webinars on distressed investing. Be on the look out and get your calendars ready!

Stressed Out! Stress and Distress in Real Estate: Industry Leaders on the State of the Market, Changing Tides and Best Practices

The COVID-19 world has thrust profound challenges upon the real estate market. The retail market struggled through the 2008 recession and was resuscitated on the backs of experiential shopping and programming. COVID-19 shutdowns and reduced demand has caused a cascade of chapter 11 retail bankruptcies and store closures expected to hit landlords and then the credit industry. In other industries such as hospitality, demand decline hit hard and fast and continues to persist. The residential markets have witnessed unprecedented governmental intervention with eviction moratoriums and similar prohibitions. With all these stressors, where are we and where are we going?

Join Ice Miller partners Phil Coover and Louis DeLucia, along with Evan Blum (Alvarez & Marsal), Jason Carney (Post Road Group), Matthew Mason (Conway MacKenzie) and Ari Zagdanski (Kinsmen Property Group) in discussing these issues and more on Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 12 p.m. EST.

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Attorney advertising material. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. The reader should consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.