The 5th Annual Caribbean Insolvency Symposium was held February 5-7 at the beautiful Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa on Grand Cayman Island. This year’s program featured top speakers on distressed debt in one of the world’s major financial centers. The educational program provided attendees with an interactive learning experience led by prominent bankruptcy judges as well as experienced practitioners. One of the sessions was of particular interest to the committee.
Panelists in the session “Claims Trading in Aid of Hostile Takeovers in Bankruptcy or in Defense of a Plan of Reorganization (including Green Mail),” discussed trading claims in and the procedural requirements and restrictions that are important in the current economy. Dennis J. Drebsky of Nixon Peabody LLP in New York moderated the session. Panelists included Bruce S. Bennett of Hennigan, Bennet & Dorman, LLP in Los Angeles, Bryan E. Bloom of W.R. Huff Asset Management Co. in Morristown, N.J. and Jeanne P. Darcey of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, LLP in Boston. Please click the links below to review the relevant materials.
Claims Trading Opportunities and Pitfalls
Restrictions on Trading Claims in Bankruptcy: Preservation of the Debtor's NOLs
The 27th Annual Spring Meeting: Washington, DC like you have never seen it before! Located a few minutes from Capitol Hill, on the historic Potomac River, the Gaylord National Resort & Spa offers the most deluxe meeting and event space in the area. This year’s conference will be held April 1-4 and will have a special focus on the tough policy choices facing the new administration and Congress. The Public Companies and Claims Trading Committee will hold a session on Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. Andrea Pincus of Reed Smith LLP in New York will moderate the session entitled “Financial Institution Bankruptcies – Should They Change The Way We Think About Chapter 11?” Panelists will include Marc Baum of Ramius LLC in New York, Leslie Rahl of Capital Markets Risk Advisors in New York and Michael Venditto of Reed Smith LLP in New York.
The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing has shown us that a top tier financial services firm is not too big or too interconnected to fail, and can be brought down by the effects of the "financial tsunami." Even with the TARP program in effect, investor confidence has been rocked, markets continue to reel, and others in the financial sector are likely to seek bankruptcy protection or be subject to fire sales. Our panel will discuss the challenges that financial industry insolvencies, the failure of complex financial products, and the exigencies of the global interconnectedness of the marketplace present for "traditional" approaches to the public company bankruptcy process in the U.S. -- such as valuation of claims, assets and illiquid securities; contractual rights vs. statutory remedies; the safe harbors and recent related litigation; set-off, foreclosure rights and turnover proceedings; claims trading and distressed investing; and, reorganization strategies -- and whether more regulation and legislation can protect us from systemic risk. Click here to register today!
