News & Analysis as of

Lenders Contract Terms Commercial Bankruptcy

Latham & Watkins LLP

Can Lenders Stay in the Driver’s Seat? The Enforceability of Make-Whole Premiums in Bankruptcy

Latham & Watkins LLP on

Borrowers and lenders must both be aware of the risks relating to uncertainty regarding make-whole premiums in bankruptcy. The enforceability of “make-whole” premiums in bankruptcy has become a hotly contested issue in...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Rethinking Liability Management in Club Deals and Direct Lending: Lessons from the Fifth Circuit’s Serta Ruling and Beyond

Goulston & Storrs PC on

On December 31, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Court”) struck down the controversial 2020 “uptier transaction” executed by Serta Simmons Bedding (“Serta”). The Serta case and several other state court and...more

Mayer Brown

Serta and Mitel: The Latest Major Court Decisions on Uptier Transactions

Mayer Brown on

Summary: On December 31, 2024, two major appellate court decisions addressed the legality of uptier financing transactions—one involving Serta Simmons Bedding (“Serta”) and the other Mitel Networks Corporation (“Mitel”). Both...more

Jones Day

Chapter 11 Filing Without Consent of Independent Director Dismissed as Unauthorized

Jones Day on

Courts disagree over whether provisions in a borrower's organizational documents or loan agreements designed to restrict or prevent the borrower from filing for bankruptcy are enforceable as a matter of federal public policy...more

WilmerHale

Serta’s (Un)Surprising Take on Equitable Mootness

WilmerHale on

In its New Year’s Eve decision in Serta Simmons Bedding, the Fifth Circuit underscored the importance of drafting debt documents with clarity and precision and cautioned against borrowers’ reliance on ambiguous language to...more

Clark Hill PLC

How Bankruptcy Courts Interpret Intercreditor Agreements: The Uncertainty of Judicial Perspective

Clark Hill PLC on

Intercreditor Agreements typically are contractual arrangements among lenders of similar or differing priorities to a single borrower secured by the assets of the borrower, often including real estate assets. These multiple...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

The Impact of In re 301 W N. Ave., LLC on the Enforcement of Bankruptcy-Remote Protections

Executive Summary - The recent decision In re 301 W N. Ave., LLC, 666 B.R. 583 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2025) represents a significant development at the intersection of corporate governance, commercial real estate, and...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Make-Whole Premiums in Bankruptcy: Clarity in Drafting, Certainty in Recovery

In the world of commercial lending, certain contract provisions often go unnoticed—until the moment they matter most. Make-whole premiums are one such example. Typically tucked deep in loan agreements, these provisions are...more

Jones Day

Uptiers in 2025: Impact of the Serta and Mitel Decisions on Liability Management Exercises

Jones Day on

Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York issued important rulings regarding the validity of uptier “liability management...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Enforceability of Golden Directors with Bankruptcy Consent Right

Proskauer Rose LLP on

The appointment of an independent director is a powerful tool for private credit lenders. The appointment is designed to introduce a voice of neutrality and fairness into the board’s decision-making process with the hope and...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Latest Uptier Decisions in Serta and Mitel Remind Contract Language Matters

The caselaw on “uptiers” as liability management exercises (LMEs) grew by two opinions on the last day of 2024. In Serta, the Fifth Circuit reversed the bankruptcy court’s blessing of the pre-bankruptcy uptier and...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Texas Bankruptcy Court Approves Serta Simmons “Uptier” Transaction

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The ruling, which held that the transaction did not violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, highlights the importance of carefully drafting lending documents. On June 6, 2023, Judge David Jones of the...more

Goodwin

TPC Bankruptcy and District Court Opinions Uphold Uptiering Transaction and Teach an Important Lesson on the Need for Express...

Goodwin on

A recent U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware opinion, In re TPC Grp. Inc., provided another instance of an uptiering transaction withstanding legal scrutiny and provides further support for the view that courts...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Decoding Derivatives - Q4 2019

Thomas Cook Takeaways - For credit default swap (CDS) protection buyers with protection on Thomas Cook Group Plc,  a U.K. scheme of arrangement paving the way for a £1.6 billion debt-to-equity exchange imposed on all debt...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Recent Developments in the Enforceability of Make-Whole Premiums in the Second Circuit

In March 2019, Judge Stuart M. Bernstein of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that lenders using clear and unambiguous language in their loan agreements may be entitled to prepayment...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

Loan Guaranties: Statutory and Legal Defenses Can Be Waived, But What About Equitable Defenses?

Guarantors of loans occupy a vulnerable position under California law. While direct borrowers often benefit from California’s robust statutory anti-deficiency framework, those protections are often unavailable for...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Second Circuit Confirms Physical Suppliers Don't Have Maritime Liens - Bank's Liens Still in Dispute in O.W. Bunker Case

Holland & Knight LLP on

• In the legal battle of competing maritime lien claims against vessels whose charterers contracted with O.W. Bunker & Trading A/S or its affiliates in October-November 2014, an important decision was issued this week by the...more

17 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 1

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide