Now that an involuntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed against AtheroGenics Inc. has been converted to Chapter 11 status, interested parties are lining up legal counsel.
King & Spalding partners James A. Pardo Jr. and Mark Maloney are representing AtheroGenics in the matter. Pardo filed the motion on Monday to convert the case to Chapter 11. King & Spalding associate Michelle Carter is also working on the case.
On Monday, Pardo submitted a request to the court that Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker partners Walter Jospin in Atlanta and Richard Chesley in Chicago be approved as counsel to the independent members of Atherogenics’ board of directors.
Additionally, Greenberg Traurig partners John D. Elrod of Atlanta and John B. Hutton III of Miami are advising The Bank of New York Mellon, an interested party in the case.
Last month, a group of five hedge funds filed an involuntary petition against AtheroGenics. That filing came after the company had said it wouldn’t make a payment on some of its outstanding debt and after it had hired Morgan Stanley to explore strategic alternatives.
The group of hedge funds, which includes AQR Capital Management LLC of Greenwich, Conn., is taking legal advice from Powell Goldstein partner Penn Nicholson in Atlanta and from a group of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr attorneys in New York. AtheroGenics’ general counsel is Joseph M. Gaynor Jr., a former Powell Goldstein associate.
As of Wednesday morning, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James Massey had not yet approved the motions to hire King & Spalding and Paul Hastings.
AtheroGenics, of Alpharetta, develops pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including diabetes and coronary heart disease. In regulatory filings, AtheroGenics has said that the company’s substantial debt burden has prevented it from developing its primary asset, AGI-1067, an inflammatory drug that has also been studied for the treatment of diabetes.