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Bankruptcy & Restructuring

We help clients weather every storm imaginable, giving companies and their creditors a chance to hit restart.

“The firm has very knowledgeable attorneys with the ability to analyze and provide counsel on highly complex situations involving multiple constituents. They are experts in both tactical and strategic legal considerations.”—Chambers USA

We help clients weather every storm imaginable, giving companies and their creditors a chance to hit restart.

“The firm has very knowledgeable attorneys with the ability to analyze and provide counsel on highly complex situations involving multiple constituents. They are experts in both tactical and strategic legal considerations.”—Chambers USA

Overview Experience Accolades Insights News

Extraordinary change means extraordinary challenges. Confronted with the unprecedented—a novel virus, a historic government-ordered shutdown, a technological revolution, and an uncharted economic fallout—our Bankruptcy & Restructuring team guides clients through their toughest times and fortifies them for whatever comes. Our ability to deliver efficient victories and devise innovative settlements for governments, utilities, retailers, and others serves not only our clients’ most pressing needs but also the long-term interests of their constituents and customers.

CEOs, investors, and government officials routinely call on our team for advice. Our lawyers, who include both skilled negotiators and seasoned litigators, have played leading roles in some of the largest and highest-profile restructuring matters across a variety of industries, including transportation, telecommunications, energy, gaming, real estate, entertainment, chemical, retail, hospitality, and aviation.

With some 30 attorneys coast to coast dedicated full-time to the practice, we offer clients deep experience in all aspects of in- and out-of-court restructurings and bankruptcy litigation—guiding them in conventional proceedings, acquisitions, distressed M&A transactions, and workouts, and defending them in intercreditor disputes, equitable subordination and recharacterization matters, debtor-in-possession financing proceedings, jurisdictional disputes, adequate protection matters, and valuation proceedings.

While we vigorously defend our clients’ positions, we never lose sight of trying to find a creative resolution acceptable to all parties. We take pride in our reputation for being “honest brokers” committed to seeking out a consensual restructuring—a perspective that has facilitated many of our greatest achievements and earned us acclaim across the restructuring arena.

24 Hour Fitness

Acted for an ad hoc group of first-lien lenders and unsecured noteholders in chapter 11 cases for gym chain 24 Hour Fitness in the financial restructuring of more than US$1.2 billion of funded debt. At the culmination, our clients became the majority owners of the reorganized company.

Belk

Helped the ad hoc group of term lenders put together a deal supported by all major lender groups for historic department store chain Belk to restructure through a one-day prepackaged chapter 11 filing—a rare example of a fully consensual retail restructuring.

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative

O’Melveny served as lead counsel for Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, securing confirmation of its $2.1 billion chapter 11 plan following catastrophic Winter Storm Uri in Texas. O’Melveny helped Brazos secure $350 million in DIP financing, successfully contested ERCOT's $2.1 billion proof of claim, and achieved numerous settlements through mediation. The positive outcome has far-reaching implications on the interplay between state laws and their authority over electric cooperatives.

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Served as lead counsel for all Puerto Rico governmental agencies and instrumentalities in the Commonwealth’s US$120 billion restructuring—the largest and most complex municipal restructuring in US history. In 2022, a US federal judge approved an O’Melveny-crafted comprehensive debt adjustment agreement, paving the way for Puerto Rico to put this difficult economic chapter behind it.

Francesca’s

With sales lagging amid a pandemic-driven retail downturn and deferred rent obligations mounting, women’s fashion boutique Francesca’s Collections turned to O’Melveny for guidance. With our help, the company staged a highly competitive bid and achieved the sale of the business as a going concern.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Served as part of a strike force assembled by California Governor Gavin Newsom to develop a legal and regulatory plan to save the state’s distressed electric utilities in the wake of deadly wildfires. As a result of our work, PG&E exited chapter 11 better positioned to meet its obligations to its customers and the state.

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority

Represented PREPA in the restructuring of more than US$8 billion of bond debt and other claims under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).