Practice Areas & Industries: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP represents investors and lenders of all kinds to maximize recoveries in domestic and international distressed debt situations.  Our primary focus is to preserve the assets and collateral values of creditors.  We represent the interests of creditors of all types, including:

§         Secured lenders;

§         Unsecured creditors;

§         Bondholder indenture trustees and bondholder committees;

§         Fund management firms of all types, including hedge funds, money managers, and venture funds;

§         Landlords; and

§         Holders of intellectual property rights.

Our goal in each client representation is to develop solutions that preserve value.  In addition to a thorough understanding of applicable insolvency and commercial law, we exercise a highly strategic and business sensitive approach.

Broad Experience

Our attorneys are recognized as key domestic and international players in workouts, financial restructurings and bankruptcies.  The depth of our experience extends to the following industries: transportation (including air, rail, and toll road sectors, among others), entertainment, franchising, hospitality, health care, insurance, manufacturing, public utilities (including the electric sector, gas distribution, and cable television), power generation, real estate, retailing, and telecommunications (including submarine and other fiber optic cable systems and satellites).

Our attorneys routinely confront cross-border insolvency challenges.  Current representations include bondholders of two leading Latin American telecommunications companies, each New York Stock Exchange listed.  In our approach to such cross-border matters, we combine our bankruptcy restructuring savvy with the skills of our multi-lingual and dually trained in civil and common law legal systems lawyers, along with extensive experience in international financial transactions.

In the health care sector, we advised the California Department of Managed Health Care, the regulatory body that oversees all managed care, in connection with the Chapter 11 cases of MedPartners Provider Network, Inc., KPC Global, and Maxicare.

In addition to our extensive international telecommunications experience, we served as bankruptcy counsel to the City of Los Angeles in connection with the Chapter 11 case of Adelphia Communications Corporation.

Creditor Advocates

When a banker/creditor faces a default by a debtor, we evaluate our position and make tactical decisions as early as possible to shore up collateral positions and other substantive rights.  Once a default or insolvency filing occurs, our attorneys move forward in a highly strategic manner to preserve going concern value in order to maximize recovery.

Our lawyers use their extensive knowledge of finance and secured transactions matters, credit policies and regulatory controls to help maximize recoveries.

Services Available

Expertise

§         Automatic Stay Litigation

§         Cash Collateral Proceedings

§         DIP Financing

§         Executory Contact and Lease Matters

§         Free and Clear Asset Sales

§         Plan Litigation

§         Preferences Fraudulent Transfers and other Avoidance Action Matters

§         Out of Court Debt Restructurings

Selected Clients

§         Trust Company of the West

§         Credit Suisse First Boston

§         MBIA

§         Gramercy Advisors

§         International Bank of Miami

§         Comerica Bank

§         Greater Bay Bancorp

§         AMRESCO Commercial Finance, Inc.

§         Beal Bank

§         MidCoast Credit Corp.

§         California Department of Managed Health Care

§         Hilton Hotels Corp.

§         Park Place Entertainment Corp.

Representative Transactions

§         Representation of ad hoc bondholder committee ($150 million) in default of Mexico's third largest cellular telephone carrier (total debt in excess of $800 million).

§         Representation of ad hoc bondholder committee ($200 million) and other creditors including bank creditors and export credit agency creditors in restructuring of Dominican – based full service telephone company (total debt in excess of $450 million).

§         Served as out side bankruptcy and restructure counsel to the California Department of Managed Healthcare in connection with the Chapter 11 proceedings of In re MedPartners Provider Network, In re Maxicare, and In re KPC Global.  These three proceedings involved almost 1,000,000 California residents.

§         Served as counsel to defendants in the successful defense of a $26 million fraudulent transfer case. The matter went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal and defendant's position was upheld.

§         Served as counsel to defendants in the successful defense of a class action case involving the establishment of the law that a casino marker is a check under the Uniform Commercial Code.

§         Successfully represented debtors in confirmed Chapter 11 cases in the entertainment and real estate development industry.

§         Served as outside bankruptcy counsel to nationwide hospitality companies in connection with Chapter 11 and debt and equity restructure issues.

§         Successfully defended fraudulent transfer cases in the context of leveraged buyout transactions.

§         Representation of lead lender in Chapter 11 bankruptcy of 250 unit quick service restaurant franchisee.

§         Representation of major record label in acquisition of prominent independent Latin record label in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

§         Representation of Series D Secured Note Holders in Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure on intellectual property and related collateral.

Clients:
Trust Company of the West, Credit Suisse First Boston, MBIA, Gramercy Advisors, International Bank of Miami, Comerica Bank, AMRESCO Commercial Finance, Inc., Beal Bank, MidCoast Credit Corp., California Department of Managed Health Care, Hilton Hotels Corp., Park Place Entertainment Corp.