ProfessionalsDouglas R. Keeton
Tel: +1-212-373-3373
Fax: +1-212-492-0373
dkeeton@paulweiss.com
dkeeton@paulweiss.com
1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York,
NY
10019-6064
Fax: +1-212-492-0373
A counsel in the Restructuring Department, Doug Keeton represents debtors, creditors, distressed investors and sponsors in a wide range of chapter 11 cases, out-of-court restructurings, liability management transactions, refinancings, and other restructuring and financing transactions.
EXPERIENCE
Doug’s experience includes:
- Co-counsel to Apollo Global Management, as DIP lender in the chapter 11 proceedings and contested confirmation process for Grupo Aeroméxico, the flag carrier airline of Mexico
- A direct lender, as purchaser of $50 million in convertible holding company notes issued by a leading travel services provider
- A direct lender in providing a $100 million secured term loan facility to a property development company and a subsequent foreclosure and related asset sale
- A direct lender in providing a $170 million unsecured holding company term loan, a $30 million structured term loan and an associated equity investment in a leading wellness infrastructure company
- Apollo Global Management on behalf of certain funds and accounts it manages in a $6.5 billion joint bid alongside Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Opportunities, as sponsor to Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.’s chapter 11 plan of reorganization and to fund the company’s exit from bankruptcy
- Blackstone Group in a restructuring of its portfolio company, Frontera Generation, the operator of a 526 megawatt power plant on the U.S.-Mexican border, through prearranged chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of Texas. The company’s plan calls for the restructuring of over $1 billion in liabilities
- Bain Capital as a new money DIP lender and backstop party for an equity rights offering in the chapter 11 cases of Bristow Group Inc., a leading global industrial aviation services provider
- The Carlyle Group, as a plan sponsor and post-bankruptcy new money investor in the prepackaged chapter 11 cases of Guitar Center, the world’s leading musical instrument retailer. The plan provided for Carlyle to invest up to $65 million in the company in exchange for one-third of the post-reorganization common equity
- An ad hoc group of unsecured noteholders in the prearranged chapter 11 restructuring of Extraction Oil & Gas, one of the largest oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Rocky Mountain region, with approximately $1.7 billion of funded debt obligations
- An ad hoc group of holders of securities issued by Exide Technologies, a manufacturer of automotive and industrial batteries, in a credit bid asset sale of the company’s international operations in more than 80 countries as part of the company’s chapter 11 liquidation. The chapter 11 plan de-levered over $700 million of secured debt through the sale of the company’s U.S. and international businesses and resolved complex and contentious disputes with the company’s unsecured creditors, the DOJ, EPA and numerous state and local environmental agencies through a global settlement
- The IMAGINE Group, a leading provider of visual print communications and experiential marketing solutions, in its recapitalization transaction, which involved a $550 million deleveraging and a $100 million new money investment
- An ad hoc group of FILO term loan lenders in the prearranged chapter 11 cases of GNC Holdings, a leading global specialty retailer of health and wellness products
- Jack Cooper Ventures, a leading provider of finished vehicle logistics in North America for new and used vehicles and diversified logistical services in select non-automotive markets, and 18 of its subsidiaries and affiliates, in their chapter 11 cases in the Northern District of Georgia
- An ad hoc group of unsecured noteholders in the chapter 11 cases of Dean Foods, the largest processor and direct-to-store distributor of fresh fluid milk and other dairy products in the U.S., involving approximately $1.1 billion in secured and unsecured debt
- Apollo Global Management as a secured noteholder and plan sponsor in the chapter 11 cases of Houston-based oil and gas exploration and production company EP Energy
- Certain funds managed by Neuberger Berman in connection with out-of-court restructurings of Drive Medical, a provider of durable medical equipment, including initially in connection with an exchange of the existing second lien debt and subsequently in connection with an exchange of the 1.5 lien debt
- David’s Bridal, the nation’s leading bridal and special occasion retailer, in an out-of-court recapitalization transaction which provided for $55 million of new capital from existing lenders and the exchange of more than $275 million in existing term loan debt into new preferred and common equity securities