Distressed M&A
Our distressed M&A practice combines the talents and experience of lawyers in our Restructuring Services Department and our M&A Practice Group to provide our clients sophisticated and comprehensive services. Clients call on us to assist them in the sale of a business or division as part of a restructuring or bankruptcy. Similarly, we represent a number of entities that regularly acquire stakes in, or the assets of, distressed or bankrupt businesses.
Our distressed M&A clients include a number of regional and national private equity clients, hedge funds and institutional investors specializing in the acquisitions of businesses in distress. We have advised multi-billion dollar funds as well as individuals investing just a few million dollars. We have advised on transactions with purchase prices as high as $500 million and as low as $4 million.
In advising our clients – particularly on the “buy side” – we have learned that, irrespective of the size of the transaction, a successful distressed M&A deal requires that the client and its counsel quickly assess the condition of the seller; manage all parties’ expectations; move quickly, but prudently; and remain flexible to address the almost inevitable eleventh-hour problems. We believe that, by keeping both our client and ourselves focused on the “important” aspects of the deal, we reflect our firm’s practical and entrepreneurial spirit, but, more importantly, we deliver real value for our clients.
Representative Distressed M&A Engagements
The following represents just a few of our recent representations (the names of which are not disclosed for confidentiality reasons):
- A North Carolina-based logistics company with a $100 million of revenue in the sale of its business as an alternative to a bankruptcy filing and a liquidation
- A $75 million Cleveland-based retailer in the sale of the bulk of its stores to a non-strategic purchaser
- A Cleveland private equity group in its efforts to purchase an auto parts maker out of bankruptcy
- A Cleveland hedge fund to purchase the debt of a company in distress, with the plan being that we would convert the debt to equity
- A Northeast Ohio-based private equity group in the purchase of a capital goods maker
- A Cleveland-based holding company with several subsidiaries in the Great Lakes region in the disposition of two businesses and the raising of $10 million of new capital
- An Ohio PCS service provider in the sale of its network and customer lists
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