Interesting Restructuring News

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  • Grocery. Cerberus Capital Management-owned Albertsons is reportedly in talks regarding a possible take-private buyout of publicly-traded grocer Sprouts Farmers Market ($SFM). Given the tough grocery environment, this is an interesting development. And it may get EVEN MORE interesting given this.
  • Oil&Gas. Crude stockpiles hit a modern record this week as American producers basically flick off Saudi Arabia/OPEC and produce, baby, produce. Crude priced down to ~$48/barrel. This - and the embattled state of Seadrill Ltd. - isn't stopping John Fredriksen from looking at picking off offshore assets. Speaking of offshore assets, the oil players are going face-to-face with power suppliers - for wind. Meanwhile, a dissenting view relating to the effect of the rise of electric cars on oil demand (paywall). Elsewhere, in Canada...
  • Retail. Bebe Stores Inc. ($BEBE) is plans to shut down its brick-and-mortar locations and become an exclusively e-comm brand - a plan that depends on the sudden charity of landlords who have shown ZERO propensity for flexibility with retail tenants. Seriously, like, ZERO. See, e.g., THE TRAIL OF RETAIL CORPSES LINING THE 2017 BANKRUPTCY ROLLS. Meanwhile, Land's End ($LE) continued to suffer from its association with Sears while reporting a perfect storm of, wait for it...decreased net revenue, decreased catalogue and e-commerce revenue, decreased same-store sales, and worsening gross margin. J.Crew  reported sliding sales, revenue and same-store comps but nevertheless reported a (very) small profit - largely on the back of Madewell. And then there is Nike ($NKE) which, in its quarterly report, noted increased profit but modest sales growth in the face of online shipping headwinds.
  • Retail II. Uh oh. It appears that Walmart may be getting it's (e-commerce) sh*t together which doesn't bode well for brick-and-mortar already suffering from the Amazon onslaught. Speaking of which, peace out Payless Inc. Wethinks we'll soon be saying "peace out" to a bunch of Chinese shoe manufacturers on top of the thousands of American jobs that will be wiped out. But dividends for Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital Partners!
  • Rewind I: We have taken a little bit of heat for two mentions of 3D-printing in this newsletter; we have been accused of over-hyping the technology and its near-term ramifications. Well, noting the Adidas announcement this week, have we?? 
  • Chart of the Week: 

What the Pros Say (Week of 11/27/16)

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  • Default Rate of Interest Upon 1123(d) Cure: Jones Day LLP's Bruce Bennett and Monika Wiener report on the 9th Circuit finally falling in line.
  • Hanjin Shipping. Baker McKenzie LLP's Peter Goodman discusses the impact of the global shipper's bankruptcy.
  • Indenture Trustee Fees. Karol Denniston of Squire Patton Boggs discusses a Caesars bankruptcy court decision regarding an indenture trustee's ability to recover fees and costs in connection with a settlement.
  • Make-Whole. Shearman & Sterling's Fredric Sosnick, Douglas Bartner, Joel Moss, Solomon Noh and Ned Schodek opine on the recent EFIH decision. King & Spalding LLP's Sarah Borders, Ye Cecilia Hong, Jeffrey Dutson and Elizabeth Dechant also chime in on the decision. As do Michael Goldstein, William Weintraub, Gregory Fox, Kizzy Jarashow and David Koch from Goodwin Proctor. AND so do Bruce Bennett, Brad Erens and Sidney Levinson of Jones Day LLP. ANND so does Cozen O'Connor's Eric Scherling.  ANNND so does Jacqueline Luther of Shepard Mullin LLP. ANNNND also Alston & Bird LLP's Grant Stein, David Wender, Dennis Connolly, and Anthony Greene. ANNNNND Shiff Hardin LLP's J. Mark Fisher and Michael Ott.

What the Pros Say (Week of 11/20/16)

Things must have slowed down as a lot of professionals are putting pen to paper...

  • Dead Malls. FTI Consulting provides an analysis.  
  • Deathtraps. Proskauer LLP's Daniel Desatnik discusses "death traps" as a tool in restructurings.
  • Default Interest. Troutman Sanders LLP's Penelope Parmes, Matthew Brooks and Meghan Wells discuss a recent Ninth Circuit decision.
  • Distressed Oil & Gas. Haynes & Boone LLP's Charles Beckham and Opportune LLP's Ryan Bouley discuss distressed debt and oil and gas bankruptcy. 
  • Election. Oaktree Capital Management's Howard Marks follows up on his pre-election letter with these insights.
  • Jevic. Rebecca Hollander of Cole Schotz LLP discusses the upcoming Supreme Court hearing.
  • LLC Blockers. Nancy Peterman of Greenberg Traurig LLP discusses blocking rights in LLC operating agreements. 
  • Make-Whole Analysis. Bracewell's Evan Flashen, David Lawton and Mark Dendinger review the Third Circuit's reversing opinion. As do Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP's Adam Harris, Lawrence Gelber, Michael Cook, and Lucy Kweskin here.
  • Retail and Consumer Products. FTI Consulting released its 2016 Holiday Retail Report.
  • Shipping. Bracewell's Evan Flaschen and Mark Dendinger are prolific this week, also addressing the increasingly distressed shipping space. Seward & Kissel LLP's John Ashmead, Michael Timpone, and Robert Gayda also address the distressed shipping space - highly relevant in light of this week's crazy drybulk shipper movements (see Dryships).