Sky Blog
The dominant shareholder primacy model of corporate governance makes shareholder wealth maximization both the purpose of a corporation and the only legitimate consideration for decisions by corporate directors. Yet that single-stakeholder model is under attack on several fronts. Numerous scholars …
One of the primary challenges faced by the courts after a firm files for bankruptcy is estimating the continuation value of the reorganized firm. Often there are large errors in these estimates, which raise significant concerns about the efficiency of …
On July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its most consequential Term in years, with a flood of decisions on contentious issues ranging from abortion access to the regulation of social media companies and gun possession to presidential immunity. The …
The proliferation of bankruptcy directors represents a controversial shift in the corporate governance landscape. Independent directors appointed when a company experiences financial distress (known colloquially as “bankruptcy directors”) bring restructuring expertise and experience to a high-stakes situation. Their appointment also …
In recent years, many countries have adopted some form of pre-packaged reorganizations (“pre-packs”), inspired largely by pre-packs popularized in the United Kingdom and the United States. By shortening insolvency proceedings, pre-packs can reduce the costs of financial distress and especially …
In a memorandum opinion and order issued on March 27, 2024, in In re Yellow Corporation, et. al., Judge Craig T. Goldblatt denied motions filed by multiemployer pension funds to arbitrate debtors’ objections to pension withdrawal liability claims in …
In the past few years, bankruptcy has emerged as a popular tool for resolving mass-tort litigation. Academics have largely greeted this development with skepticism and alarm, arguing that large corporations turn to bankruptcy to reduce expected payouts at the expense …
Traditionally, senior lenders have wielded all the control in bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings. They usually hold liens on all or substantially all the debtor’s assets and enjoy payment priority over virtually all other claimants. Meanwhile, modern debt instruments often contain …
In a new article, I observe that an accurate understanding of intersecting bodies of law can sometimes turn on the scale of observation. In particular, I examine how the intersection of commercial and bankruptcy law creates uncertainty whether a transfer …
In a recent paper, we make the case for a smart contract-based automated restructuring framework that can be used by any firm that issues equity and debt securities in tokenized form. The paper is the basis for an actual smart-contract …
Loophole seeking has become a standard tool in the world of distressed debt restructuring. The highest-profile example was the J. Crew restructuring in 2016. In that transaction, the company stripped $250 million in trademark collateral from the reach of its …
Unsecured debt of distressed companies is a popular investment for certain hedge funds, not least because it often allows the funds to serve on a distressed company’s unsecured creditors’ committee (UCC) shortly after the firm files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. …
Within a month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, L.P.,[1] a case that (i) could radically change the potential for bankruptcy to serve as the preferred mechanism for corporations seeking to resolve mass torts, …
Credit Suisse (CS) was sold to UBS on March 19, 2023, to avoid its further deterioration from long-lasting distress and widespread distrust, especially after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The most contentious point of the deal may have been …
The contraction of the market for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and the recent challenges de-SPACed companies have encountered have attracted considerable press attention. The stocks of many de-SPACed businesses — companies formed by the merger of a SPAC with …
One of the primary attractions of cryptocurrency, for libertarians and blackmailers alike, is its relative freedom from the governmental oversight and involvement that comes with traditional currency. Yet this anti-government tilt is a problem where chapter 11, or bankruptcy generally, …
In just three years, crypto conglomerate FTX Group went from start-up to a $40 billion global phenomenon to a company in “free-fall” Chapter 11. The debacle has been most brutal for millions of FTX customers, who are living through the …
Responses to financial crises can have the unfortunate effect of creating “zombie” firms, companies whose operating profits are insufficient to cover their debt service. These companies would probably have gone bankrupt without the forbearance of banks or regulators or other …