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Mr. Levine, Brown Rudnick’s Finance Practice Group Leader, regularly represents senior and junior lenders, hedge funds and other creditors in the documentation, structuring and recovery of complex financial transactions. During his more than twenty-five years experience in the bankruptcy area, he has represented many secured and unsecured creditors, official and unofficial committees, debtors and trustees. He has developed particular expertise in debtor-in-possession financings, cash collateral and stay litigation, and plan confirmation challenges.
In recent years, a significant portion of Mr. Levine’s practice has involved specialty lending particularly to retailers, including the recovery of loans in or out of bankruptcy proceedings, and representing consortiums of first and second lien and high-yield noteholders in out-of-court restructurings, debt-for-equity and debt-for-debt exchange offers, change of control and other indenture covenant disputes and Chapter 11 reorganizations.
Mr. Levine is recognized by Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America, in the area of Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law, and frequently speaks and writes on finance and reorganization topics.
Recent Matters
• As counsel to Trustee and ad hoc committee of First Lien Noteholders in pre-petition Delaware Chancery Court action and subsequent Chapter 11 proceedings of Calpine Corporation, coordinated litigation regarding company’s misuse of collateral sale proceeds and make-whole premium dispute.
• Counsel to Co-Collateral Agent in recent multi-billion dollar syndicated secured loan facilities to Sears Roebuck, Toys R Us and to lead agent in many other secured loans to retailers.
• Counsel to senior secured lenders in connection with bankruptcy proceedings, including those of, among others, GI Joes, Inc., Shoe Pavilion, Museum Company, Weathervane, People’s Pottery and San Francisco Music Box.
• Counsel to an ad hoc committee of second lien lenders in the out-of-court restructuring of Environmental Systems Products Holdings, Inc., resulting in their acquisition of 100% equity interest through a debt-for-equity exchange and provision of new first and second lien credit facilities.
• Represented an ad hoc committee of convertible noteholders of Sirius/XM Satellite Radio in enforcing their rights in connection with a change of control challenge to the XM / Sirius merger and follow-up debt-for-debt exchange offers.
• Represent Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in LyondellBasell Chemical, particularly in respect to $8 billion debtor-in-possession facility.
• Represent Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Six Flags, Inc.
• Represented significant constituents in, among others, Exide Technologies, Interstate Bakeries, Greate Bay Holdings (Sands Casino) Imperial Sugar, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel and Congoleum Chapter 11 cases.
• Represented senior management of equipment leasing company in leveraged buy-out financed through a securitization of its lease portfolio, more than $350 million in securitization facilities, and subsequent merger with a state chartered bank.
Publications
• Co-author, "Selling Derivative Claims," Derivatives Week, August 16, 2010
• Co-author, "The Challenge of Determining Enterprise Value in Volatile Markets," The Bankruptcy Strategist, July 2010
• "This Way Out," The Deal, February 7, 2010
• Co-author, "Reflections in Plague Time: Perspectives on the Sub-prime Crisis," The Americas Insolvency and Restructuring Guide, 2008/09
• "Lending to the Emerging Debtor in the Face of an Appeal" Commercial Lending Review, January 1, 2006
• “Lender Beware: Fraudulent Conveyance Preference and Other Legal Concerns in Forbearance Agreements,” (ABI, 2003)
• “Broken Promises: Repudiation of Contracts under FIRREA” (MCLE, 1991)
• “Protecting the Transaction from Bankruptcy and Insolvency Risks,” a chapter in Securitization: Asset-Backed and Mortgage-Backed Securities, (Michie/Butterworth, 1991)
• “The Inconsistent Treatment of Secured Tax Claims in Liquidation and Reorganization Proceedings,” 93 Comm. L.J. No. 3 (Fall 1988)
• “Workouts of Troubled Real Estate Transactions” (MCLE, 1988)
Speaking Engagements
• Adjunct Professor in Securitization and Structured Finance, Boston University School of Law since 1996
• "Recent trends in Debtor in Possession Financing," American Bankruptcy Institute Leadership Conference, 2001
• "Using Chapter 11 to Sell a Business," American Bankruptcy Institute Northeast Conference, July 2003
• Strategic Research Institute; Asset Based Lending Seminar
Community Involvement
• Board of Directors, Chairman of Pro Bono Committee of Turnaround Management Association, Massachusetts Chapter
• Treasurer, Jewish Family Services of The North Shore
Bar Admissions & Memberships
• Admitted, Massachusetts Bar
• Admitted, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts; First Circuit Court of Appeals
• Member, American and Boston Bar Associations
• Admitted, New York Bar, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
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