Kirkland & Ellis Receives Three Restructuring Awards from Turnaround Management Association
The Turnaround Management Association (TMA) announced that Kirkland & Ellis will receive the "Turnaround of the Year: Mega Company," for its work in the restructuring of Hawker Beechcraft, "Turnaround of the Year: Large Company" for its restructuring of Nebraska Book Company Inc., and "Transaction of the Year: Mega Company" for the restructuring for Dex One Corp./SuperMedia Inc. The winners will be honored at the association's 24th annual conference, The Annual, from October 3-5. Partner James H.M. Sprayregen will also be inducted into the Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame.
Since 1993, TMA has honored excellence through its annual awards program, which recognizes the most successful turnarounds and impactful transactions. TMA is the leading organization dedicated to turnaround management, corporate restructuring, and distressed investing. Established in 1988, TMA has more than 9,000 members in 48 chapters worldwide, including 31 in North America. Members include turnaround practitioners, attorneys, accountants, investors, lenders, venture capitalists, appraisers, liquidators, executive recruiters and consultants, as well as academic, government and judicial employees. The Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame was created in 2008 to honor those whose outstanding individual contributions have increased the stature and respect of the restructuring industry.
Kirkland represented Hawker Beechcraft Inc., a world-leading manufacturer of business, special mission, light attack and trainer aircraft, in its successful prearranged Chapter 11 cases. The restructuring involved conversion of approximately $2.5 billion of bank and bond debt into equity, termination of two defined benefit pension plans and a significant operational restructuring that eliminated jet production and focused on the Company's core Beechcraft, defense, special mission and customer support businesses. Partners James H.M. Sprayregen, Patrick Nash, Paul Basta and Ross Kwasteniet represented Hawker Beechcraft.
Kirkland advised Nebraska Book Company, Inc., a college bookstore chain and textbook wholesaler, in its Chapter 11 restructuring. As of the commencement of its Chapter 11 cases, Nebraska Book reported assets of approximately $657.2 million in book value and liabilities of approximately $563.9 million in book value. This challenging restructuring preserved and strengthened an important going concern business in a struggling sector, yielding a favorable result for stakeholders. Nebraska Book reduced its indebtedness by $240 million, equitized over $100 million of secured debt, and emerged from Chapter 11 as a viable business enterprise with a stronger balance sheet. Partners Marc Kieselstein and Chad Husnick advised Nebraska Book.
Kirkland represented Dex One Corporation and its subsidiaries, together a leading provider of yellow-page and other print and digital directories and marketing services, in its prepackaged Chapter 11 and merger with SuperMedia Inc. In an unprecedented transaction, Dex One and SuperMedia, both publicly traded companies, filed separate but parallel prepackaged Chapter 11 cases to consummate their stock-for-stock merger, amend or reinstate over $3.3 billion of funded debt obligations, maintain shareholder equity value in the combined enterprise, and pay all general unsecured claims in full. Partners James H.M. Sprayregen, Marc Kieselstein and Christopher Marcus represented Dex One.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,600-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex restructuring, corporate and tax, litigation, dispute resolution and arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, Calif., San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington D.C.
