Paul M. Rosenblatt, a Kilpatrick Stockton partner on the firm’s bankruptcy and financial restructuring team, has received the 2008 Transaction of the Year award from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.
Rosenblatt advised AT&T, a member of the creditors’ committee in the bankruptcy of telecommunications provider Trinsic Inc.
The Turnaround Management Association, a 9,000-member organization based in Chicago, recognized Rosenblatt for his work during the bankruptcy sale process, which yielded a 25 percent enhancement in the final sales price of the Tampa, Fla.-based company’s assets.
Rosenblatt described the process of boosting the sales prices as a “tug of war” between what management of the debtor wanted, what the creditors wanted, and what was best for each.
“The debtor selected a stalking horse party who was offering $20 million,” Rosenblatt recalled. “The bid of $20 million was not sufficient to cover the debts that had to be paid in the bankruptcy estate. So we assisted in obtaining another party who was interested in bidding on the assets. There were several hurdles and roadblocks that we overcame to arrive at an auction process in which the parties bid against each other and the sale price ended up increasing by about 25 percent to $25.5 million … so all the debts that had to be paid could be paid.”
In a hearing at the conclusion of the sale, Southern District of Alabama Bankruptcy Court Judge Margaret Mahoney praised the legal team, including counsel for the creditors committee, for successfully handling a multitude of challenging issues.