Whitney C. Fogelberg

Prima® Wawona — Represented Prima® Wawona and certain of its affiliates (“Prima®”) in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As the largest producer of stone fruit in the United States, Prima® farms is approximately 18,000 acres of peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and various other stone fruits across the San Joaquin Valley in California. Headquartered in Fresno, California, Prima® entered Chapter 11 with approximately $679 million in funded debt and approximately $1 billion in total debt as of the petition date. Prima® will use its time in Chapter 11 to pursue one or more value-maximizing sale transactions.

Yellow Corporation — Represented Yellow Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries (“Yellow”) in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. With its family of brands, including YRC, Reddaway, Holland, and Yellow Logistics, Yellow was a storied trucking and logistics company with a 100-year history and one of the largest less-than-truckload networks in North America. Yellow entered Chapter 11 with approximately $1.2 billion in prepetition funded debt. Yellow secured a $1.525 billion stalking horse bidder for its owned real estate assets and, through its Chapter 11 cases, will conduct a marketing and sale process for some or all of its real estate and rolling stock assets, followed by an orderly liquidation of any remaining assets.

STX Filmworks, Inc. — Represented STX Filmworks, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“STX”), a film, television, and digital media production company, and STX’s corporate parent, Eros STX Global Corporation, in the stock sale of STX to an affiliate of The Najafi Companies for $158 million. In furtherance of the sale, Kirkland also represented two STX subsidiaries in connection with their surgical Chapter 11 filings to protect two of the company’s valuable assets from termination and avoid a “whole-company” Chapter 11 filing. Following the sale transaction, the two STX subsidiaries secured the orderly dismissal of their Chapter 11 cases with the consensual support of all economic stakeholders.  

Team, Inc. — Represented Team, Inc. (NYSE: TISI), a global provider of integrated, digitally enabled asset performance assurance and optimization solutions, regarding ongoing financing restructuring efforts and strategic review of its capital structure, including Team’s entry into a $50 million delayed draw subordinated term loan facility. 

Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. — Represented Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (“BTC”) in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, BTC was one of the nation’s largest independently owned ocean-going petroleum barge companies operating within the Jones Act market, possessing a fleet of 24 barges and 25 tugs that provided oil and petroleum product transportation services. During their Chapter 11 cases, BTC obtained over $100 million of new capital through a series of court-approved transactions and consummated two simultaneous value-maximizing sale transactions for substantially all of their assets that allowed their state of the art fleet to continue operating in the Jones Act market. 

Lakeland Tours, LLP — Represented Lakeland Tours, LLP d/b/a WorldStrides (“WorldStrides”) and certain of its affiliates in their prepackaged Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. WorldStrides is a provider of educational travel experiences both domestically and abroad and filed for Chapter 11 to restructure more than $768 million of funded indebtedness after the worldwide shutdown of travel due to COVID-19 negatively impacted their businesses during their peak tour operating season.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation — Represented Chesapeake Energy Corporation and 40 of its subsidiaries in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Chesapeake is a premier oil and natural gas exploration and production company with a high-quality, unconventional oil and natural gas asset portfolio, with substantial positions in top U.S. onshore plays. Chesapeake and its debtor-affiliates had more than $9 billion of funded debt obligations as of the commencement of their Chapter 11 cases. Prior to commencing the Chapter 11 cases, Chesapeake obtained commitments from certain of its secured creditors for over $4 billion of new capital, including a $925 million new money debtor-in-possession financing facility, a $600 million fully backstopped rights offering, and $2.5 billion of exit facilities as part of a comprehensive restructuring support agreement that would eliminate approximately $7 billion of Chesapeake’s funded debt obligations.

PGX Holdings, Inc. ― Represented PGX Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“PGX”), a leading credit-repair service provider, in an out-of-court restructuring transaction that extended the maturity of PGX’s funded debt by three years, raised new capital, and maintained the equity stake of its sponsor. This amend-and-extend transaction was executed with 100% lender consent and will give PGX runway to navigate uncertainties concerning general macroeconomic trends and ongoing high-stakes litigation.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation ― Represented Whiting Petroleum Corporation and certain of its affiliates (collectively “Whiting”) in connection with Whiting’s prearranged Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Whiting is a Denver-based publicly traded independent exploration and production company with an oil focused asset base, employing approximately 500 employees and with funded debt of approximately $3.4 billion as of the Chapter 11 filing. Whiting entered into a restructuring support agreement with its unsecured noteholders, which contemplated a Chapter 11 plan that would provide 97% of the reorganized equity to noteholders and other holders of general unsecured claims, while still providing a recovery to existing equityholders in the form of the remaining 3% of reorganized equity. Through the deal reached with Whiting’s lenders and noteholders, Whiting will delever its balance sheet by eliminating over $2.7 billion of funded debt.

Sheridan Holding Company I, LLC ― Represented Sheridan Holding Company I, LLC and certain affiliates in the first one-day Chapter 11 case in Texas history in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sheridan I obtained confirmation of its prepackaged Chapter 11 plan of reorganization by video conference on March 24, 2020, one day after Sheridan I filed for Chapter 11. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Sheridan I is the first of three series of Sheridan oil and natural gas investment funds. Sheridan I’s prepackaged equitization restructuring eliminated approximately $470 million of funded debt and left general unsecured creditors unimpaired.

Tapstone Energy, LLC ― Represented Tapstone Energy, LLC and certain of its affiliates in their out-of-court restructuring. Tapstone is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development and production of oil, natural gas, and NGLs in the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The restructuring transaction reduced Tapstone’s funded debt by approximately $440 million and provided the company with liquidity, including a $50 million new money investment, to optimize operations and expand its production base through mergers and acquisitions.

FastMed Holdings I, LLC ― Represented FastMed Holdings I, LLC and certain of its affiliates (“FastMed”) in their deleveraging transaction. FastMed is a privately owned operator of over 100 urgent care clinics in Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas. The transaction resulted in the consensual equitization of approximately $80 million in funded debt and the paydown of approximately $148 million in secured debt.

Specialty Retail Shops Holding Corp. ― Represented Specialty Retail Shops Holding Corp. and its subsidiaries (“Shopko”), a retailer of general merchandise, including clothing, accessories, electronics, home furnishings, as well as company-operated pharmacy and optical-services departments, in their Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nebraska. As of its Chapter 11 filing, Shopko operated more than 360 stores in over 25 states. Shopko’s Chapter 11 cases are the largest ever filed in Nebraska.

American Tire Distributors, Inc. — Represented American Tire Distributors, Inc., one of the largest independent suppliers of replacement tires, in its prearranged Chapter 11 cases. The restructuring of American Tire’s approximately $2.6 billion in funded debt includes a three-year maturity extension and conversion of approximately $1.1 billion of bonds to equity. Existing equity holders are to receive 5% of the new equity, plus warrants for additional equity. The restructuring has the support of a majority of all holders of funded debt and leaves general unsecured creditors unimpaired.

EXCO Resources, Inc. ― Represented EXCO Resources, Inc. in its Chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. EXCO Resources, Inc. is an oil and natural gas exploration, exploitation, acquisition, development and production company headquartered in Dallas, Texas with principal operations in Texas, North Louisiana and the Appalachia region. EXCO listed approximately $1.4 billion of funded debt obligations at the time of filing.

Seadrill Limited ― Represented Seadrill Limited and certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries in their multi-jurisdictional restructuring of approximately $20 billion of contract and debt obligations. Seadrill is a leading global provider of offshore contract drilling services and employs nearly 4,000 individuals across 22 countries and five continents. Seadrill's pre-arranged Chapter 11 cases, one of the largest filings in 2017 based on asset size, resulted in the re-profiling of approximately $6 billion of secured debt, eliminated approximately $3.5 billion of unsecured bond and contractual obligations, and facilitated a capital investment of more than $1 billion. In the months preceding Chapter 11, Seadrill also consummated a series of ring-fencing transactions that successfully prevented its non-consolidated businesses from also having to commence Chapter 11 cases. Seadrill and its debtor subsidiaries confirmed their Chapter 11 plan with near universal consensus in approximately 7 months and emerged from Chapter 11 in less than 10 months.

Toys“R”Us, Inc. ― Represented Toys “R” Us, Inc. and several of its direct and indirect subsidiaries in one of the largest ever retail Chapter 11 filings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. Following implementation of a strategy to effect a successful wind-down of operations in the United States and going concern sales and/or reorganizations of operations throughout the world, including Asia, led efforts to construct and implement global settlement agreements amongst all stakeholders and five distinct Chapter 11 plans.

Mood Media ― Represented Mood Media, a leading global provider of in-store audio, visual and other forms of media and marketing services in North America and internationally across a broad range of industries including retail, food retail, car dealerships, financial services and hospitality, in its Chapter 15 case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Sequa Corporation ― Represented Sequa Corporation in its successful refinancing and out-of-court restructuring of approximately $1.9 billion of funded indebtedness. Pursuant to the consensual restructuring, Sequa obtained a significant new money investment, its senior credit facilities were refinanced in full, and over 90 percent of its unsecured notes were exchanged for new convertible preferred equity.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. ― Represented SandRidge Energy, Inc., an oil and natural gas company headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in its prearranged Chapter 11 cases. SandRidge filed with a restructuring support agreement signed by holders of more than two-thirds by principal amount of its $4.1 billion of funded debt.

Emerald Oil, Inc. — Represented Emerald Oil, Inc., a Denver-based independent exploration and production company focused on acquiring acreage and developing wells in North Dakota and Montana, in its Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation ― Represented Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries, an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, primarily in the States of West Virginia and Ohio, in its Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Associate, Vedder Price P.C., 2012–2016

Law Clerk, National Veterans Legal Services Program, 2010–2012