Bankruptcy Round-Up: In The News
Members of the Bankruptcy, Reorganization and Capital Recovery Group at Greenberg Glusker have been turned to for their thought leadership by several news outlets this year. Here is a round-up of our activity thus far:
Brian Davidoff was quoted in Law360 in the article "Bankruptcy Cases And Trends To Watch In 2023."
"While it's been very resilient to date, I believe the real estate industry is susceptible to a big upheaval," Davidoff said.
Jonathan Shenson shared his outlook with Law360 regarding Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The FDIC actions are designed to preserve the parent company's cash in the event it is needed to satisfy claims the bank might have once all the depositors have been protected, said Jonathan Shenson of Greenberg Glusker LLP.
"To the extent the debtor and its subsidiaries have cash and other assets with the bank, those assets could potentially be subject to setoff rights the bank may have, to the extent the bank has claims against those entities," Shenson said.
"If the entities are profitable or worth something, presumably there will be someone prepared to provide capital," Shenson said.
"There is a lot going on right now, and my guess is the holding company is laser-focused on those issues, but it probably isn't the highest priority for the bank," Shenson said. "The FDIC is focused on finding a successor bank."
Jeff Krieger provided commentary to Yahoo! Finance regarding Bed Bath and Beyond, and its management's choice of filing for Chapter 11.
Jeffrey Krieger, a partner with Greenberg Glusker who also specializes in corporate bankruptcy, said that for a publicly traded company the size of Bed Bath & Beyond it's unsurprising that its management would choose Chapter 11, though one thing that’s a little bit unique, he said, it that it appears to be liquidating without much indication that of trying to emerge from bankruptcy as a going concern.
"Liquidation usually doesn’t happen right out of the box with a Chapter 11," Krieger said.
One potential downside of choosing Chapter 11 when a company's only intention is to liquidate, Krieger added, is that it could cost the company, and in turn its creditors, more to maintain employees and retail locations.
Jonathan Shenson shared his insights with Bloomberg Law regarding how fast-food franchisees in the US are increasingly facing bankruptcy.
The number of franchisees filing bankruptcy is still relatively low. But inflationary pressures and other macroeconomic factors make this a “uniquely distressed area” that isn’t confined to just one or two chains, said bankruptcy attorney Jonathan Shenson of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP.
“The takeaway is that food costs, labor costs really are impacting the bottom line,” he said.
In addition, congratulations to Greenberg Glusker partners Keith Patrick Banner, Jeffrey Krieger, and Jonathan Shenson who were selected to the Los Angeles Times' 2023 Banking and Finance Visionaries List. Those featured on the list are being recognized for their successes and accomplishments during the last two years.