Bloomberg Law: Jilted Investors Find Hope Challenging Lien-Altering Debt Deals

The relatively new trend of “lender on lender violence,” which occurs when distressed companies enter into “priming” agreements with a bare majority of their lenders to avoid bankruptcy by placing their debt above what it held by a minority of institutions, has resulted in numerous lawsuits between financial creditors and deal participants. “You can’t do one of these types of transactions without opening the door to litigation,” said Jennifer Taylor, a corporate finance and restructuring partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Even though a final judgment on the merits of these suits has not been reached in a civil court, the results to date “give the plaintiffs a good roadmap of the kind of claims that you’ll bring and that might be successful,” Taylor said.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can read the full article here.