Gerald Bender

Partner

Gerald Bender is a partner in O'Melveny's New York office and a member of the Transactions Department and the Financial Restructuring Practice Group. Gerry's practice covers all aspects of financial restructuring, including representations of unofficial and official creditors' committees, institutional investors, secured and unsecured creditors and debtors in out-of-court restructurings and chapter 11 reorganizations. He regularly represents acquirors of debt of, and investors in, trouble companies, including private equity funds, hedge funds, and other investors, including those seeking to acquire control of or work out investments in troubled companies. His engagements have covered a broad range of industries, including airline, automotive, broadcasting and cable, construction, gaming, healthcare, housing, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, retail, shipping, telecommunications, and textile.

Gerry is equally comfortable in the boardroom and the courtroom, and has significant experience in the negotiation and documentation of restructuring-related transactions as well as the litigation of complex bankruptcy and commercial disputes. As such, he is well-suited to craft practical solutions to complex problems and achieve the consensus required to implement these solutions.

Prior to joining O'Melveny, Gerry was a partner at Strook & Strook & Lavan LLP and, prior to that, was counsel and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he practiced in the financial restructuring area. 

Gerry has been named a "Super Lawyer" in a survey conducted by Law & Politics Media Inc. and published in New York magazine.  He is also a contributing author to the leading bankruptcy treatise, Colliers on Bankruptcy, and is a frequent author and lecturer on various restructuring-related topics.

Illustrative Professional Experience

• Chapter 11 Debtor Representations: ANC Rental (Alamo/National Car Rental Company - third largest car rental company with more than US$1 billion in debt); Bill's Dollar Stores, Inc. (chain of general merchandise stores in the South); Escada (USA) Inc. (well-known women's luxury fashion house); Family Golf Centers, Inc. (roll-up of golf range and family entertainment centers); Maxway Corporation and Danners, Inc. (chain of general merchandise stores in the South and the then largest-ever chapter 11 in the Carolinas); Morse Shoe Company (the parent company of Payless Shoe Stores); Nutramax Corporation (diversified health products company); Salant (garment manufacturer); Wingspread Corporation (garment manufacturer).
  Official Creditors' Committee Representation: Advanced Glassfiber Yarns; Desa Holdings; Formica; Galey & Lord; General Chemicals; Philadelphia Newspapers; Tropical Sportswear; Ziff Davis.
• Public Ad Hoc Committee and Significant Creditor Representations: Adelphia; Harvard Industries; Magnachip; Mirant; Nextwave; NSC/Pueblo; OSG; Refco; Sportsman Brands.
  Other Recent Creditor and Third Party Representations: Minority senior lenders in Pacific Ethanol chapter 11 case; ad hoc group of senior lenders in workout of US$200 million in debt of book publisher; largest second-lien debt holder of auto accessory manufacturer; debtor-in-possession lender to automotive supplier; project finance lender to power plant; acquiror of assets of mortgage lender; plan funder and acquiror of mortgage lender.
• Private Equity and Hedge Fund Clients: Regularly advise fund clients with respect to acquisitions of debt and control positions and portfolio company issues.
• Buyers and Sellers: Regularly advise clients with respect to section 363(b) sales and other distressed M&A transactions.

Professional Activities

Admitted to Practice, US District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; US Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Contributing Author, Colliers on Bankruptcy, 15th Edition; "Best Practices for Corporate Restructuring," Aspatore Books, Inside the Minds Series, 2006; "Bankruptcy Court Issues Challenge to CMBS Players," Real Estate Finance Review, Vol. II (Winter, 1998); Bankruptcy Practice and Strategy (Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 1988)
Speaking Engagements, "The Interplay between Repurchase Agreements and Other Financial Products and the Bankruptcy Code," presented at the Joint Meeting of the Bankruptcy Litigation and Creditor's Rights Committees of the American Bar Association, at the Annual Meeting of the ABA Section of Business Law, Dallas, Texas, April 2007; "Hedge Fund and Private Equity Fund Participation in Chapter 11 Cases," presented at the Joint Meeting of Bankruptcy Litigation and Creditor's Rights Committees of the American Bar Association, at the Annual Meeting of the ABA Section of Business Law, San Francisco, August 2008                           Honors, Named a "Super Lawyer" by Super Lawyers - Corporate Counsel Edition