The TMA Florida Chapter’s Winter Conference included a panel discussion of turnarounds in higher education, a sector where significant distress has occurred and is expected to continue over the next decade. As if to punctuate the point, shortly after the conference Argosy University abruptly closed the doors of its 22 locations throughout the U.S.
Argosy and others, however, may only portend a tsunami of closures to come. Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen estimates that over the next decade, 25 percent of colleges and universities will fail.1 This dire...
In October 2018, Quintis Limited, with some 13,000 hectares (32,110 acres) of sandalwood to grow and harvest in Australia, completed a recapitalisation of its business and restructuring of the group balance sheet and debt instruments. The restructure design utilised Australian voluntary administration and scheme of arrangement processes in conjunction with a U.S. Chapter 15 filing recognition proceeding.
Quintis is the latest formal Australian turnaround to use rescue features recognisable to a North American readership. Others include Ten Network, Paladin Limited, Atlas Limited,...
TMA honors excellence through its annual awards program, which recognizes achievements in the categories listed in this issue, plus more. The following awards were presented at The 2018 TMA Annual in Colorado Springs, CO, on September 27.
TURNAROUNDS AND TRANSACTIONS OF THE YEAR
Transaction of the Year: Mega Company | Avaya, Inc.
Santa Clara, California-based Avaya is the largest provider of call center software and a global leader in “unified communications”— integrating conferencing, messaging, video, data, voice, and more. It became an...
In my role as a guest editor of the JCR over the past couple of years, I have asked authors to focus on topics related to the energy business from the perspectives of both the investor and the turnaround professional. This year we have shifted to a survey format covering a broad range of topics with the objective of providing useful insights and tools for turnaround professionals. We have also included an article to add an international perspective, recognizing the full importance of turnaround practices in international markets and TMA’s global footprint.
Although most police officers are honest, hardworking, and dedicated to serving their communities, highly publicized incidents of police misconduct ranging from the use of excessive physical force to the shooting of unarmed civilians spotlight deteriorating police/community relationships in small and large communities across the United States.
In the absence of mandatory national reporting of such incidents, it is difficult to determine whether police misconduct is actually on the rise or if the proliferation of cellphone cameras and the corresponding increase in video evidence...
Many bankruptcy attorneys, financial advisors, and investment bankers who work in the distressed business industry believe that when interest rates increase to more historic levels the industry will enjoy a much-needed resurgence after five years of depressed engagement volume and fees. Clearly the Federal Reserve is in the process of gradually increasing the federal funds rate, a base rate that directly impacts—and to a large degree drives—all lending rates in the U.S.
However, anticipated interest rate increases may not create the significant surge of engagements for distressed...
When underperforming and distressed companies require the intervention of turnaround executives, they often need to develop and implement a new strategic plan. At the most fundamental level, the plan’s success depends on changing employee behaviors. Attaining employee adoption of a plan is commonly referred to as “buy-in.”
Obtaining and maintaining buy-in throughout the turnaround process is just as important as any fundamental change in process, strategy, or product development. Regardless of how well-designed the plan is, if buy-in is not secured from the onset, executives will...
Most people think of municipal bonds as debt issued by state and local governments and their agencies and authorities. In fact, federal tax laws treat a wide array of entities and projects as eligible for “municipal financing.”
Most U.S. cities and states have created “municipal authorities” as the technical issuer of special-purpose tax-exempt bonds that “loan” the proceeds to eligible entities and projects. The legal structures used vary from situation to situation and from state to state, but they generally take the form of loans, leases, or lease-leasebacks. In certain...
Begun in 1960 as a family-run business in New York City, Duane Reade had become a private equity-owned regional convenience and drug store chain that was financially underwater and plagued by low customer satisfaction. Clutter and crowding were synonymous with the brand and its undifferentiated offering.
In 2006 Bloomberg Businessweek called it a leveraged buyout (LBO) on the critical list that was starting to look like a zombie.1 As large national drugstore chains targeted the city for growth and expansion, Duane Reade required bold and immediate action to deliver...
The out-of-court restructuring process is a fascinating and ever-evolving discipline. Creative restructuring professionals have spent entire careers developing unique approaches to out-of-court restructuring that push the limits of applicable law. Recent decisions by lower courts temporarily upended the leveraged credit markets and emboldened minority noteholders to challenge proposed restructurings. On January 17, 2017, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the lower court’s decision that many viewed as a substantial expansion of minority noteholder rights and provided some...
