EXPERIENCE

Michael’s recent matters include:

• Proterra, a publicly traded developer and producer of commercial electric vehicle technology, including proprietary battery systems, electric transit busses, and turnkey charging solutions, in its chapter 11 cases in the District of Delaware
• An ad hoc group of lenders of Learfield, a collegiate sports marketing company representing over 200 collegiate properties, in an out-of-court recapitalization transaction allowing the company to reduce its outstanding debt by over $600 million and secure $150 million in new-money equity investments
• An ad hoc group of first lien term loan lenders of QualTek Services, a leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure services, in connection with both a prepetition financing transaction and a comprehensive restructuring effected through the company’s prearranged chapter 11 filing
• CHC Group, one of the largest providers of helicopter services, in connection with a comprehensive out-of-court recapitalization transaction involving the reduction of up to $520 million in funded debt and over $100 million in new money and other liquidity enhancement
• An ad hoc group of first lien lenders of Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC, one of the leading producers of mattresses and bedding products in the United States and Canada, in connection with the chapter 11 cases filed by the company and its affiliates in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
• Lumileds Holding B.V. and certain of its affiliates, a global provider of automotive and other LED lighting solutions, in connection with their prepackaged chapter 11 cases commenced in the Southern District of New York
• An ad hoc group of unsecured noteholders, led by Clearlake Capital Group, in their recapitalization of Service King, a national automotive collision repair company, resulting in the infusion of $200 million of new capital into the company
• The Collected Group, an international fashion group headquartered in California which is recognized globally as a leading designer, distributor and retailer of the Joie, Equipment and Current/Elliot brands, and its debtor subsidiaries, in their chapter 11 cases in the District of Delaware
• An ad hoc group of senior noteholders in the prepackaged chapter 11 cases of Oasis Petroleum, a Houston, Texas-based independent exploration and production company with a focus on unconventional crude oil and natural gas development
• An ad hoc group of noteholders and preferred stockholders in an out-of-court recapitalization of Associated Materials, a North American manufacturer and distributor of exterior building products with over $800 million of debt
• An ad hoc group of senior secured creditors of Oro Negro, a Mexican offshore drilling company, in a restructuring of over $900 million of secured debt obligations issued pursuant to Norwegian law-governed documents that involved contested concurso mercantil proceedings in Mexico, a related chapter 15 proceeding in the Southern District of New York, and litigation in Singapore and Norway
• Chisholm Oil and Gas and Gastar Holdco as equity sponsors in the prearranged chapter 11 cases of Chisholm Oil and Gas Operating, a Tulsa, Oklahoma based oil and gas exploration and production company
• An ad hoc group of creditors of California Resources Corporation, an independent, publicly traded oil and natural gas exploration and production company with the largest oil and natural gas production operations in California, in its chapter 11 cases
• Foresight Energy, a leading producer of thermal coal based in the Illinois basin, in its prearranged chapter 11 case that reduced over $1 billion of its funded indebtedness
• W Wind Down Co., the entity responsible for resolving approximately 4,000 claims in the Westinghouse Electric Company chapter 11 cases asserted in the aggregate amount of $100 billion
• An indenture trustee and certain noteholders of Algeco Scotsman Global Finance plc in challenging a restructuring transaction proposed by the company and negotiating and closing an improved transaction pursuant to which Algeco’s sponsor TDR Capital agreed to purchase $125 million of notes held by the group as well as invest $250 million in Algeco on a go-forward basis
• The Bon-Ton Stores, a national department store retailer, in its chapter 11 cases in Delaware, including the sale of substantially all of its assets under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code
• An ad hoc group of Puerto Rico general obligation bondholders in restructuring the $18 billion of Constitutional debt issued or guaranteed by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including in the Title III cases commenced under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) to restructure the debts of the Commonwealth and certain of its instrumentalities and public corporations
• An ad hoc group of first-, second- and third-lien lenders to global specialty metal distributor A.M. Castle & Co. and its affiliated debtors in connection with their prepackaged chapter 11 cases
• U.S. counsel to Petra Diamonds, an independent diamond mining group, in a restructuring of the company’s approximately $600 million in second lien notes through proceedings in the United Kingdom and the United States
• U.S. counsel to Bain Capital, as purchaser, in the sale of Virgin Australia pursuant to Australian Deeds of Company Arrangement and related U.S. chapter 15 cases

Since 2020, Michael has been consistently selected by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” in bankruptcy. Michael authored an article titled, “An Uncertain Future: The Questionable Extraterritoriality of the Bankruptcy Code’s Core Pre-Petition Avoidance Provisions,” published in the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review.