Debtwire Restructuring Forum Miami 2023
Debtwire's Miami Forum returns for its second year!
JW Marriott, 1109 Brickell Ave, Miami
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Alejandro Sainz heads the Insolvency and Restructurings practice area at the firm and is also a member of the Finance, Compliance and Investigations, and M&A practice groups.
Alejandro has more than 30 years of experience advising and representing clients in cases of cross-border insolvency and restructuring (both out-of-court and in-court proceedings - concursos mercantiles), finance, refinancing, and corporate reorganizations, as well as in the purchase and sale of distressed assets. Throughout his vast experience, he has represented clients from various industries, both nationally and internationally, domestic and foreign companies, public and private organizations, as well as several ad-hoc committees of international bondholders and noteholders issued abroad by Mexican issuers.
He is also well-known for his service to the community, by providing pro-bono representation to various organizations. He has taught and spoken in several courses, seminars, postgraduate courses and lectures, in Mexico and abroad, on topics such as restructuring, commercial bankruptcy and cross-border restructuring and insolvency proceedings. He is a member of several boards of directors and committees.
Alejandro is listed in Chambers Latin America as Band One Lawyer in Bankruptcy / Restructuring; in The Legal 500 as Hall of Fame Lawyer for Bankruptcy and Restructuring; in Who’s Who Legal as Global and National Leader for Restructuring and Insolvency; in Best Lawyers in Mexico for Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2023); among other important recognitions.
His latest publications are:
- Alejandro Sainz and Gabriela Avendaño; "The Interplay Between Different Stakeholders in Mexican Restructurings: Equity Versus Debt" in The Guide to Restructuring, Edition 3; Latin Lawyer; 2023.
- Alejandro Sainz and Gabriela Avendaño, "Mexico: Restructuring & Insolvency" in the Restructuring & Insolvency Country Comparative Guide - Q&A; The Legal 500; 2022.
- Alejandro Sainz and Gabriela Avendaño, "Mexico: Law and Practice" in Chambers Insolvency 2022 Guide.
- Alejandro Sainz and Gabriela Avendaño, "Mexico: An Introduction to Bankruptcy/Restructuring", Overview for the Bankruptcy/ Restructuring Chapter in Chambers Latin America 2024.
Alex Horn is the Managing Partner and Founder of BridgeInvest. He is responsible for the firm’s investment decisions and strategic growth. Under Alex’s leadership, BridgeInvest has evolved into a leading real estate private lender.
Since founding BridgeInvest more than a decade ago Alex has been instrumental in expanding its global distribution channels, institutionalizing operations and creating a nationally-recognized origination platform.
Responsible for the company’s investment decisions and long-term business goals, Alex has successfully served as the portfolio manager for five private equity funds and deployed $1.3 billion across more than 100 transactions.
Prior to founding BridgeInvest, Alex was a member of the Strategy & New Ventures team at SecondMarket (acquired by NASDAQ) where he was responsible for establishing new business lines for the firm and helping with larger scale strategic initiatives.
Alex was recognized by the South Florida Business Journal as a “40 Under 40” award recipient at the age of 29. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University with a major in Economics.
In his personal life, Alex is married to Dr. Danielle Horn and they have three beautiful daughters. Alex is passionate about marine biology and the preservation of Miami’s waterways. When not chasing after his toddlers, he is maintaining his 130-gallon saltwater coral reef aquarium and supporting the conservation group, Miami Waterkeeper, in its efforts to protect Biscayne Bay.
Bobby Groat is a Principal at Blue Owl and member of the Liquid Credit Investment Team. In his role, he focuses on investments in broadly syndicated loans and non-investment grade credit within the Healthcare sector.
Before joining Blue Owl, Bobby was a Director at Barclays Capital in New York. Prior to that, he was a Senior Research Analyst with Symphony Asset Management, a subsidiary of Nuveen & TIAA-CREF, where he also focused on investments in non-investment grade credit. Bobby began his career at Jefferies as a non-publishing credit research analyst.
Bobby received his BA in Economics and BA in German from the University of Michigan.
Mr. Friedman is a Partner in the Ares Private Equity Group, where he focuses on special opportunities investing. Prior to joining Ares in 2017, Mr. Friedman was an Associate in the Financial Restructuring Group at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy L.L.P., where he represented debtors and creditors in chapter 11 reorganization cases and out-of-court workouts, and private equity funds and hedge funds acquiring control positions in financially distressed companies. Mr. Friedman was a Secondee at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. in the Special Situations and Distressed Investing Group. Previously, Mr. Friedman was a Judicial Law Clerk in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Friedman holds a B.A. from Emory University in Political Science, where he was appointed to the Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society, and a J.D., summa cum laude, from The George Washington School of Law. During law school, Mr. Friedman was a George Washington Scholar and received the Charles Glover Award and the Justice Thurgood Marshall Civil Liberties Award.
Brendan Ballou is a federal prosecutor and served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. Previously, he worked in private practice, and before that, in the National Security Division of the Justice Department, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and other policies. He graduated from Columbia University and Stanford Law School.
Brian J. Fox is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal North American Commercial Restructuring Practice (NACR) in New York. As Leader of NACR’s East region, he provides a full range of financial advisory, operational improvement and interim management services in restructurings and other special situations, both in court and outside of bankruptcy.
Mr. Fox has worked with companies to develop operational improvement programs around customer and product profitability, working capital reduction and expense reduction. He has assisted in the review and development of cash flow and liquidity forecasts, strategic and operating plans capital structure alternatives and the development, negotiation and implementation of restructuring transactions.
Some of Mr. Fox’s notable engagements include acting as Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and interim Chief Financial Officer to GTT Communications, Inc. in its financial restructuring; advising a global medical services company in its operational and financial restructuring; advising a $850 million food additives business on a financial and operational restructuring; advising a $1.4 billion manufacturer of building products on an out-of-court exchange; and advising a $500 million apparel company in an out-of-court restructuring of its credit facilities.
Previously, Mr. Fox advised Performance Sporting Goods on its sale through Section 363; advised Dean Foods, a $2 billion dairy processor, on a sale of essentially all its assets; advised Rockport Shoes in its restructuring through a Chapter 11 sale process; and acted as CRO to Gibson Brands in its financial restructuring
Mr. Fox earned a BBA in accounting from the Hofstra University and an MBA in finance from Fordham University. He is a CPA in New York and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. A frequent panelist on restructuring topics, Mr. Fox was an author of The Chief Restructuring Officers’ Guide to Bankruptcy.
Mr. Baratta is a Managing Director and Head of Brazil at Houlihan Lokey, having joined the firm in 2023 to launch its São Paulo office. Over the past two decades, he has advised companies across industries on a variety of strategic matters, including debt restructuring, liability management, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, corporate restructurings, investments, and other topics.
Recent deal activity includes advising the AHG of creditors of Oi on its debt restructuring. Selected noteworthy engagements before joining Houlihan Lokey include advising Mubadala on the acquisition of RLAM; Odebrecht on the sale of its interest in Braskem to LyondellBasell (terminated); Coats on the divestiture of its Brazil and Argentina businesses; PPG’s separation of its Commodity Chemicals business and merger with Georgia Gulf Corporation via a Reverse Morris Trust; PetroRecôncavo on its IPO; Ocyan on its debt restructuring (2023); OpenCo’s Series D with SoftBank; Omega Geração on its combination with Omega Desenvolvimento; Embraer on the divestiture of its Evora factory to Aernnova; AHG of creditors of USJ on its debt restructuring; AHG of creditors of Andrade Gutierrez on its debt restructuring; Oi on its mezzanine financing; Natura on the acquisition of Avon; Odebrecht Oil & Gas on its debt restructuring (2017); Odebrecht liability management program; Aché on the acquisition of Melcon; OEC’s exchange offer evaluation; CEMEX’s liability management; Reynolds American’s acquisition of Lorillard, and related transactions involving British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco; Delhaize Group’s sale of its Sweetbay, Harveys, and Reid’s supermarket banners to BI-LO Holdings (Southeastern Grocers); Constellium IPO; and CEMEX’s strategic agreement to outsource its global shared services business to IBM.
Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Baratta spent nearly 12 years at Lazard, where he led the firm’s Industrials and Restructuring and Capital Solutions businesses in Brazil. Before Lazard, he worked as a Strategic Consultant at Accenture, advising clients on corporate finance topics.
Mr. Baratta holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Engineering from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Chris Moon is a Managing Director, Credit at DigitalBridge Investment Management. Mr. Moon is responsible for origination in the Americas and European regions and has over 20 years of experience in the Communications and Technology sectors including over 15 years of direct experience in sourcing transactions in digital infrastructure. Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Mr. Moon was a Managing Director and founding member of the TMT Sector Lending Group at ING Bank and had responsibility for origination, structuring and underwriting leveraged transactions in North America and LatAm. Prior to ING, Chris was an Analyst at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division and a CPA at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Communications and Technology practice. Mr. Moon received an MBA and MS in Tax and a dual Bachelor of Science in Finance and Computer Information Systems from Northeastern University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a Certified Public Accountant (inactive)
Dan Fisher, the co-leader of Akin’s integrated special situations group and a member of the firm’s Management Committee, practices at the nexus of restructuring, finance, M&A and securities, and has market-leading experience in the unique issues raised by distressed and special situations.
He routinely advises companies, boards, creditor groups and investment funds on:
· Public and private M&A
· Corporate governance matters
· Distressed M&A transactions
· Special situations transactions, including distressed and bespoke financings, exchange offers and consent solicitations
· In- and out-of-court restructurings
He also serves as outside general counsel to several public companies that have emerged from a chapter 11 restructuring. He is a leading practitioner with respect to the governance, liability management, securities compliance, tax and other issues specific to a post-restructured company. Dan also has significant experience advising companies, boards of directors and special committees on crisis management, including in connection with regulatory and public scrutiny and executive transitions.
Daniel Flores is a Partner and Head of US Restructurings and Turnarounds at GoldenTree Asset Management where he is responsible for restructurings and turnarounds in North America. In addition, Mr. Flores is a member of GoldenTree’s Distressed Committee. Prior to joining GoldenTree, Mr. Flores was a Senior Vice President at Avenue Capital Group, where he focused on U.S. distressed opportunities and restructuring transactions. Previously, Mr. Flores worked in the Restructuring and Finance Group at Lehman Brothers, where he advised clients in connection with out-of-court workouts and Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Flores was an analyst in Merrill Lynch’s Global Power Group in New York and Singapore. In addition, Mr. Flores co-Founded MENU Pte Ltd, a leading operator of Western food and beverage concepts in Singapore. Mr. Flores received an A.B. degree from Duke University and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Daun Chung is a partner with MTS Health Partners. He joined the firm in 2023 and has extensive experience advising companies and stakeholders in complex restructuring & recapitalization transactions with over 15 years of experience. Mr. Chung’s background also includes representations in municipal restructurings, M&A and general corporate finance advisory transactions. Prior to joining MTS, he was a Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities, a Partner at Milstein & Co., and a member of the restructuring group at Lazard. Mr. Chung graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics and holds a J.D./MBA from New York University School of Law/Stern School of Business.
Mr. Geenberg oversees the North American investment team, with responsibility across the firm’s investment, restructuring, and operational functions based in Greenwich, CT.
Since joining Strategic Value Partners in 2009, Mr. Geenberg has led investment efforts over a range of industries including infrastructure, energy, power generation, and industrials. In that capacity, Mr. Geenberg has overseen the firm’s control deals in North America, including GenOn, OmniMax, PureField, and SH-130. Previously, Mr. Geenberg worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., most recently in its infrastructure private equity business, and, prior to that, in the investment bank’s natural resources group.
Mr. Geenberg received a BA in Economics summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2005. Mr. Geenberg is on the Boards of Directors of OmniMax International, GenOn Holdings, Purefield Ingredients, and SilverBow Resources, and previously served on the Boards of Bicent Power, Penn Virginia Corporation, Chaparral Energy, and White Energy.
David Botter’s practice focuses on large, complex restructuring cases, both out of court and in Chapter 11, across a variety of industries. He frequently handles multijurisdictional and cross-border matters for both distressed companies and major creditors, and is particularly respected for his representation of bondholders and creditors’ committees as part of his broad creditor-side practice. He also has experience representing institutional investors, hedge funds, debtors-in-possession, post-petition lenders, and acquirors of distressed assets in the health care, transportation, and energy sectors, among others.
David joined Cleary Gottlieb as a partner in 2023. Prior to joining the firm, David was a partner at another major international law firm.
Elizabeth LaPuma is on the board of several public and private companies, including WeWork, Ebix (a financial technology company), Enterra Solutions (a private market-leading industrial scale artificial intelligence value chain solutions provider), Digital Media Solutions (a technology enabled advertising company), and Ventura Capital (a private equity firm), among others. Ms. LaPuma has advised on landmark transactions across industries and around the globe for over 20 years and in matters totaling trillions of dollars. Prior to pursuing board work, Ms. LaPuma was most recently the Head of UBS's Balance Sheet Advisory Group particularly focused on representing financial institutions. She also ran Alvarez & Marsal Asset Management Services group, managing a portfolio of assets including a $2.5bn portfolio of debt and equity investments and approximately another $3.0bn of international assets. Prior to that, Ms. LaPuma worked in BlackRock's Financial Advisory Group as well as at Lazard Ltd, the global investment bank. Ms. LaPuma earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School, and a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude and as a Palmer Scholar.
Emily Slater is a Managing Director and a senior member of the US commercial underwriting group responsible for assessing and structuring investments in high-value commercial litigation, and for identifying high-value investments in the marketplace.
Greg Corbin is the President and Founder of Northgate Real Estate Group. In addition to his focus on the sale and workout of properties in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Mr. Corbin also specializes in judicial and UCC foreclosures, loan and REO sales, restructuring, and the disposition of stalled construction sites. He has extensive expertise in these arenas and is widely recognized as one of the most active and sought-after industry leaders.
Mr. Corbin has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his career, most recently:
• 2022 RED Bankruptcy Broker of the Year
• 2022 CoStar PowerBroker
• 2022 Crain’s Most Influential People in Real Estate
• 2022 New York Real Estate Journal Industry Leader
• 2021 Property IDX Broker of the Year
• 2021 IE Magazine Inspiring Leader
• 2021 Connect Media Top Broker
Mr. Corbin and his team have been involved in the sale of over $3 Billion of investment properties spanning all major asset classes, including multi-family apartment buildings, development sites, factory/warehouses, transitional housing facilities, bulk condominium packages, industrial, retail, hotel, office, mixed-use, and commercial buildings.
Prior to starting Northgate, Mr. Corbin spent 4 years at Rosewood Realty Group as the President of Bankruptcy and Restructuring. While there, he and his team arranged the sale, workout or recapitalization of over 100 buildings, development sites, membership interests and loans totaling $1.1 billion in underlying collateral.
Before Rosewood, Mr. Corbin spent a decade at Besen & Associates. Prior to that, he was a Director of Sales at Massey Knakal, now Cushman and Wakefield.
Mr. Corbin was a Co-Chairman of the YJP Real Estate Division since 2012, Co-Founder of the NYIC Real Estate Group, and is on the real estate board of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He was the founder and is a current board member of the not for profit Give to Give Foundation, and was a co-founder of The Legion and Fuel For Truth.
Mr. Corbin is a graduate of Horace Mann and Boston University. He is a native New Yorker and lives on the Upper West Side with his wife and children.
Jaspinder is a senior investment banker at Jefferies LLC. He joined the firm in 2011 and has over a decade of experience focused on debt advisory, liability management, special situations financing and M&A transactions, having completed over 50 assignments for companies, creditors, and investors representing over $100 billion in aggregate transaction value.
Jaspinder recently advised Pipeline Health System on its successful chapter 11 restructuring, which included the sale of its Illinois hospitals and was named 2023 Large Company Restructuring Transaction of the Year by TMA. He also advised the ad hoc group of senior noteholders of Quorum Health hospital system on its $1.4 billion pre-arranged chapter 11 restructuring and take-private transaction in 2020.
Jaspinder has been recognized by Business Insider as one of 25 Wall Street Rising Stars of in investing, trading and dealmaking and named on 40 under 40 lists by Global Restructuring Review and Private Debt Investor amongst rising stars in the fields of restructuring and private debt, respectively. Mr. Kanwal was a recent panelist at TMA’s annual distressed investing conference on trending liability management tactics.
Mr. Kanwal has a B.S. from Bucknell University with a dual major in Cell Biology/Biochemistry and Economics with a concentration in finance.
Jennifer Feldsher is a co-leader of the bankruptcy, restructuring, and insolvency practice. Jennifer’s primary focus is representing secured creditors, special situations investment funds, private credit providers, and ad hoc groups in bankruptcy proceedings, section 363 sales, and in-court and out-of-court complex corporate debt restructurings and recapitalizations. She also represents troubled corporate debtors in reorganizations, asset sales, loan restructurings, and commercial loan transactions.
Jennifer has directed all aspects of the bankruptcy process for debtors and creditors. She has experience in chapter 11 plan formulation and confirmation, relief from stay and cash collateral negotiations, and debtor-in-possession (DIP)/exit financing negotiations and related hearings. Jennifer also routinely advises on innovative financing solutions, intercreditor agreement terms and enforcement, and “zone of insolvency” issues and fiduciary duties.
She has acted as counsel to companies involved in many of the largest restructurings in the real estate, energy, retail, telecommunications, technology, healthcare, airline, automotive, gaming, and financial services industries. She is a frequent author and speaker on panels and with the media, commenting on the state of the market generally and specific industry trends as well as a mentor to junior professionals in the turnaround space.
Mr. Dunn is a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group, and Co-CIO of the Fortress Legal Assets business. Mr. Dunn is based in New York and focuses on litigation and legal process related debt and structured equity transactions, including serving on the Investment Committee of the Fortress Legal Assets Fund. Prior to joining Fortress in 2016, Mr. Dunn was a litigator at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig LLP. At both firms, Mr. Dunn represented parties in disputes in U.S. state and federal courts, primarily in securities cases. Mr. Dunn received his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
David S. Jones was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on February 19, 2021.
Judge Jones received his A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1985 and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1990. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Morris E. Lasker, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, from 1990 through 1992. Judge Jones was in private practice in New York from 1992 through 1996. From 1996 until he was appointed to the bench, Judge Jones served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and at different times served as the Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Tax and Bankruptcy Unit; the Office’s Chief Civil Appellate Attorney; and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. He was awarded the Justice Department’s Director’s Award and the New York City Bar Association’s Henry L. Stimson Medal, among other awards. Judge Jones also served as an instructor at the National Advocacy Center, and an evaluator of U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the nation.
Ken Epstein is an Investment Manager and Legal Counsel at Omni Bridgeway, responsible for leading the company’s US initiatives in bankruptcy and insolvency-related matters. For over 20 years, he has successfully combined legal and finance expertise to help solve problems and add value for companies, lenders, and investors.
Ken works closely with individuals, corporations, and law firms to provide funding and risk management strategies for distinct claims or claim portfolios. Ken has extensive experience advising chapter 11 debtors, creditors and estate representatives in complex debt restructurings and insolvency disputes. Many of Ken’s current matters involve cross-border judgment enforcement and monetization for creditors.
Ken joined Omni Bridgeway in 2017 from MBIA where he was managing director and a cross-disciplinary executive tasked with leading workout/turnaround projects in the restructuring and remediation group. He successfully led numerous high-profile, financially and legally complex, creditor-side restructurings including the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit. These cases often involved novel legal issues, were precedent setting and required litigation, negotiation, and other value-enhancing strategies to resolve. He began his career as a lawyer in the financial restructuring group of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where he also envisioned and led a first-of-its-kind program to connect families of 9-11 victims with pro bono legal representation.
Ken has taught bankruptcy law as an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School and has served as a panelist and author on bankruptcy-related topics. He has an undergraduate accounting degree and earned his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 2000, where he graduated cum laude. Ken is recognized in the Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Third Party Funding Guide (2020 - 2021) and LawDragon Global Restructuring Advisors & Consultants Guide (2020).
Mr. Alexander is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Ares Credit Group's Alternative Credit, Pathfinder and Pathfinder Core Investment Committees and the Ares Secondaries Group's Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2019, Mr. Alexander was Deputy CEO and Head of Global Market, Americas at Natixis CIB. Previously, he worked at Deutsche Bank within the Interest Rate Derivatives Group. Mr. Alexander began his career as an Economic Analyst at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He holds a B.S. from Washington and Lee University in Business Administration and Accounting and an M.A. from Fordham University in Economics.
Lauren Krueger (New York) joined KKR in 2018 and is a Managing Director in the firm’s Credit business, where she leads corporate governance and restructuring efforts. Ms. Krueger is a member of the Global Corporate Private Credit Investment Committee and Co-Chair of the KKR Private Credit Portfolio Monitoring Committee. Ms. Krueger currently sits on the Board of Directors of several KKR portfolio companies, including JW Aluminum Inc., PRG Worldwide Entertainment, Constellis and One Call. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Krueger was an independent fiduciary for Drivetrain Advisors, where she worked with investors to maximize value for stressed and distressed companies. Previously, Ms. Krueger served in investing roles at Esopus Creek Advisors and the D.E. Shaw Group and in restructuring advisory at Lazard Freres. Ms. Krueger holds an AB degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she served as an associate adjunct professor of finance and taught the course “Misunderstood Securities” for several years. Ms. Krueger also serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia Business School’s Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. In addition, Ms. Krueger currently sits on the Board of Directors of Her Justice, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal help to women living in poverty in New York City, and the Board of Trustees of Horace Mann School.
Leonard Klingbaum is co-head of Ropes & Gray’s global capital solutions and private credit group and actively participates in the firm’s finance group. Leonard’s practice focuses on event driven and opportunistic financing transactions, as well as special situations, workouts, restructurings and insolvency matters. He routinely represents participants in all aspects of the capital solutions' arena, including distressed investing, strategic lending, loan-to-own, and restructuring matters. He has represented lenders (credit funds) and borrowers in direct lending, high yield, and mezzanine transactions, from the lower middle market to large cap transactions. He also acts on behalf of public and private corporate clients as general finance counsel.
Leonard has been recognized by The Legal 500 (United States), where clients recognize him as “diligent and hardworking" and "adept at locating problems and finding solutions.” Additionally, IFLR 1000 ranks him as “highly regarded,” and he has been recognized by the Turnaround Management Association with a Transaction of the Year award. Leonard also has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2021-2023).
- Mr. Rahmani is an Executive Director in Perella Weinberg Partners’ Advisory business. He focuses on advising companies, creditor groups, and investors on corporate restructurings, financings, M&A and other transactions.
- During his tenure at Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Rahmani has advised a wide range of companies and boards, including Concordia International, Del Monte, EB Holdings, Halcon Resources, iHeartMedia, Oasis Petroleum, and Vantage Drilling. Mr. Rahmani also has experience representing creditor groups, unsecured creditor committees, and investors both in-court and out-of-court, including on transactions involving Celsius Networks, Diamond Offshore, Hexion, Ocean Rig, Peabody, Pyxus, Salt Creek Midstream, Savers, Travel Leaders Group, and VER Technologies.
- Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Rahmani was at CIT Group from 2012 to 2016 where he invested in middle-market private debt and syndicated loans in the TMT and Gaming sectors. He began his career at Deloitte, participating in a rotation program through the strategy consulting and financial advisory groups.
- Mr. Rahmani received a Bachelor’s of Science, with a double major in Accounting and Finance from Yeshiva University. Mr. Rahmani currently holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and was previously a CPA in NY
Matthew is responsible for all aspects of business development and execution at Keen-Summit Capital Partners. He focuses primarily on the development of new business, marketing and implementing strategic real estate plans for his clients. Those plans involve real estate analysis, real estate acquisitions and dispositions, lease modifications and terminations, and corporate finance and capital market services. Matthew has more the 24 years of real estate advisory and transactional experience, with a particular expertise in workouts and restructurings, specializing in strategic planning, the sale of real estate assets and lease negotiations. He has represented financial, corporate and retail clients. As a recognized expert on real estate restructuring issues, Matthew is a frequent speaker on industry topics and has been quoted in national and industry publications. Matthew is a former member of the National Board of Trustees of the Turnaround Management Association and the National Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute.
Matt represents official and unofficial creditors' and equity committees in chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings. He also represents significant creditors, lenders and third-party purchasers in connection with chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructuring situations.
Experience:
- Representing an ad hoc group of senior secured noteholders and convertible noteholders of Quotient Limited, a publicly-listed European-based diagnostics company, with respect to, among other things, its pending chapter 11 case and recapitalization involving more than $250 million of secured and unsecured debt.
- Representing an ad hoc group of first lien lenders of K&N Engineering, Inc., a leading consumer-branded designer, manufacturer and marketer of high performance automotive and power sports aftermarket parts, in a $60 million new money financing in connection with its out of court restructuring of approximately $415 million of funded indebtedness.
- Represented an ad hoc group of bondholders of Exela Technologies, Inc. with respect to, among other things, an out of court exchange involving approximately $1.0 billion of first lien bond debt, and a subsequent exchange of $1.3 billion of first lien bond debt.
- Represented Aleris Corporation in the chapter 11 cases of Real Industry.*
- Represented an ad hoc group of noteholders of Forbes Energy Services.*
- Represented Goldman Sachs Asset Management as sponsor of Constellation Enterprises, a chapter 11 debtor.*
- Represented Fidelity Management & Research Co. in the chapter 11 cases of Energy Future Holdings, Inc.*
- Represented ad hoc group of noteholders of Forbes Energy Services in pre-packaged chapter 11 plan.*
- Represented Appaloosa, Centerbridge, Owl Creek, and Aurelius in the chapter 11 cases of Washington Mutual, Inc.*
- Represented Centerbridge, Paulson, and Blackstone in the purchase of Extended Stay, Inc., a chapter 11 debtor.*
- Represented Ascribe Capital and Phoenix Investments in the out-of-court restructuring of Alion Science and Technology Co.*
- Represented an ad hoc group of noteholders in connection with Georgia Gulf Corp.’s debt for equity exchange.*
- Represented an ad hoc group of first lien debt holders in the chapter 11 cases of Merisant Co.*
- Represented the independent directors in connection with the chapter 11 cases of Innkeepers USA Trust.*
- Represented the Equity Committee in connection with the chapter 11 cases of Calpine Corp.*
- Represented the New York Liquidation Bureau and the NYS Department of Financial Services in connection with the $2.1 billion mortgage backed securities settlement between MBIA and Bank of America.*
- Represented the NYS Department of Financial Services in connection with the restructuring of monoline insurers (Syncora, FGIC, MBIA, and CIFG).*
*Completed prior to joining Ropes & Gray.
Michael Weissenburger, Director, is a member of Blackrock's Global Credit Platform. He is responsible for originating and executing direct lending and special situations investment opportunities and maintaining relationships with key deal sources and intermediaries across the US including private equity groups, investment banks, turnaround advisors and others. The investments sourced can be placed across the BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI) platform but sit primarily in the BlackRock Private Credit group which since 1999 has invested nearly $27 billion in over 800 portfolio companies.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Weissenburger was a Managing Director at DDJ Capital Management, LLC a leading institutional investment advisor with $8 billion in assets under management, specializing in leveraged credit market investments. Prior to joining DDJ in 2015, Mr. Weissenburger was a Director, Direct Loan Originations at Wells Fargo Capital Finance, providing senior secured financing solutions from $3M to $1B to middle market companies across North American and Canada, to refinance debt, improve liquidity and to provide capital for acquisition or expansion.
Mr. Weissenburger earned a MBA in finance from D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and a BA in political science from University of Connecticut.
Natalia oversees acquisition opportunities and financial analysts for Terra and has extensive experience conducting due diligence and assessed new CMBS issues for Moody’s and Fitch. Ms. Sosnina has also managed the acquisition and asset management of distressed real estate debt. Natalia is a licensed real estate broker in four states, and has a Masters in Real Estate from NYU.
Richard J. Shinder is the founder and Managing Partner of Theatine Partners, an advisory and fiduciary services boutique based in Greenwich, Connecticut. He has over 30 years of experience as an investment banker, restructuring advisor, distressed and special situations investor and fiduciary in connection with complex restructurings and recapitalizations, special situations financings, M+A transactions, private credit, and distressed investments.
Prior to establishing Theatine Partners in May 2020, Richard was Group Head of the Restructuring and Special Situations Group at Piper Jaffray & Co. Prior to Piper, he was a Managing Director in TPG Capital’s credit investing strategy. Richard was previously a partner in the Restructuring Group at boutique investment banking firm Perella Weinberg from 2009 to 2014. Before Perella Weinberg, he was a senior member of the Special Situations Group (SSG) at Goldman Sachs, the firm’s proprietary alternative investment business.
Earlier in his career he worked in the merchant banking and investing businesses of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Avenue Capital, respectively, and was also a Managing Director in The Blackstone Group’s (now PJT Partners) market-leading Restructuring and Reorganization Group. He started his career with Lehman Brothers in New York, where he worked in the Municipal Infrastructure and Leveraged Finance Groups and spent two years seconded to the Asia Investment Banking team based in Hong Kong.
Mr. Shinder is a highly regarded restructuring expert and frequent lecturer, speaker and panelist on business and financial topics, and he has written and spoken extensively on economic, financial, geopolitical, cultural, and corporate governance-related issues; his opinion essays have been featured in the Wall Street Journal on multiple occasions, as well as in myriad other publications.
He has served as both an independent director as well as an interested (designee) director for multiple companies, as well as on a number of not-for-profit and philanthropic boards. He currently sits on five (5) private company boards. He has served on the Board of Regents of Gonzaga University for the past twenty years, and sits on the University’s Endowment Investment Committee and SBA Executive Council. He is a member of the Economic Club of New York and the Turnaround Management Association, and sits on the leadership committee of Catholic Renewal, a philanthropic industry body affiliated with Catholic Charities.
Richard earned an MBA with distinction from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated summa cum laude from Gonzaga University.
Mr. Tesoriere, Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager for Oaktree’s Value Opportunities strategy, is also a member of the Opportunities group in New York. Prior to joining the firm in 2016, Mr. Tesoriere was Managing Principal and Portfolio Manager of Altai Capital Management, an investment manager he co-founded in 2009, which focused on investing in distressed debt and event-driven equities. Prior thereto, Mr. Tesoriere was with Anchorage Capital Group for six years, where he was a founding analyst. He began his career with Blackstone in the Restructuring and Reorganization Group before working at Goldman Sachs in distressed debt research. Mr. Tesoriere received a B.S. degree in Commerce with a concentration in finance from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Mr. Anifowoshe is a Director in the Fortress Credit Funds Business’ Corporate Loan and Securities group. Since joining Fortress in 2020, Mr. Anifowoshe has focused on special situations, restructurings, and distressed debt across the Fortress platform. Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Anifowoshe was a Vice President in the Restructuring and Debt Advisory group at Evercore where he advised debtors, lenders, and sponsors on a broad range of restructuring, bankruptcy, capital raising, and liability management transactions across multiple industries. Mr. Anifowoshe began his financial career in capital markets at Barclays in New York, where he focused on fixed income products for institutional clients. Mr. Anifowoshe received his B.A. from Yale University, his J.D. from Columbia Law School, and his MBA from Columbia Business School.