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- November 2023
- Case
Celsius Network Inc.: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the Brave New World of Crypto Bankruptcy
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
In July 2022, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Alex Mashinsky acknowledged that Celsius had grown its assets “faster than the Company was prepared to deploy [them]” and as a result had made “certain poor asset deployment decisions.” Two months after...
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- Article
Do the Right Firms Survive Bankruptcy?
By: Samuel Antill
In U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, firms are either reorganized, acquired, or liquidated. I show that decisions to liquidate often reduce creditor recovery, costing creditors billions of dollars every year. I exploit the within-district random assignment of...
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- February 2022 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Hertz in Bankruptcy: A Wild Ride in Pandemic Times
Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to asset-backed securities (ABS) obligations and the COVID-19 pandemic. Enthusiastic Robinhood investors and shrewd negotiating tactics helped Hertz stabilize. Roughly nine months into the bankruptcy, Hertz received...
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- January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
Aptiv PLC Board of Directors (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
Aptiv’s board must decide whether a joint venture with an auto maker is the right next step in the company’s efforts to develop and commercialize a production-ready autonomous driving system. While many commentators believed that Aptiv’s self-driving technologies had...
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Keywords:
Automotive Industry;
Bankruptcy Reorganization;
Board Of Directors;
Board Committees;
Board Decisions;
Board Dynamics;
Corporate Boards;
Innovation And Strategy;
Legal Aspects Of Business;
Spin Off;
Strategic Alliances;
Strategic Change;
Strategic Evolution;
Supplier Relationships;
Technological Change;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Innovation Strategy;
Going Public;
Joint Ventures;
Leadership;
Restructuring;
Technological Innovation;
Transformation;
Auto Industry;
Europe;
United States
- December 2020 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
PG&E and the First Climate Change Bankruptcy
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
In early 2020, the California-based utility PG&E filed a second amended plan of reorganization. PG&E had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of more than $30 billion of legal claims brought against it for its alleged role in causing California wildfires. The...
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- August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
Latam Airlines and COVID-19: Seeking Bankruptcy Protection in the United States
By: Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Larrain, Carlos Vilches and Sarah Jeong
On May 26, 2020, Latam Airlines became the largest airline in the world to be driven to bankruptcy by COVID-19. With a complex debt structure and international investor composition, the company decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, which...
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- September 2019
- Article
Bankruptcy Spillovers
By: Shai Bernstein, Emanuele Colonnelli, Xavier Giroud and Benjamin Iverson
How do different bankruptcy approaches affect the local economy? Using U.S. Census microdata, we explore the spillover effects of reorganization and liquidation on geographically proximate firms. We exploit the random assignment of bankruptcy judges as a source of...
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- July 2019
- Article
Optimal Capital Structure and Bankruptcy Choice: Dynamic Bargaining vs Liquidation
By: Samuel Antill and Steven R. Grenadier
We model a firm’s optimal capital structure decision in a framework in which it may later choose to enter either Chapter 11 reorganization or Chapter 7 liquidation. Creditors anticipate equityholders’ ex-post reorganization incentives and price them into the ex-ante...
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- April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Sears: The Demise of an American Icon
By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following...
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- February 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
Quiksilver Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management
By: Kristin Mugford and Mike Harmon
Sports lifestyle company Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in September 2015. Oaktree is considering an additional investment in the company to facilitate the restructuring.
Students must consider whether Oaktree should invest given the risks of the turnaround...
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Keywords:
Bankruptcy;
Bankruptcy Reorganization;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy;
Acquisition;
Restructuring;
Debt Securities;
Transformation;
Decision Making;
Borrowing and Debt;
Investment Return;
Crisis Management;
Negotiation;
Retail Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
France;
United States
- April 2018 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2016, a trial began to determine the future of Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation’s $3 billion chapter 11 reorganization plan. The plan called for first- and second-lien-secured creditors to receive new claims representing approximately 98% of the reorganized company’s...
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- 2015
- Working Paper
Cashing Out: The Rise of M&A in Bankruptcy
By: Stuart Gilson, Edith Hotchkiss and Matthew Osborn
The use of M&A in bankruptcy has increased dramatically in recent years, leading to concerns that the Chapter 11 process has shifted toward excessive liquidation of viable firms. In this paper, we argue that the rise of M&A has blurred traditional distinctions between...
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Keywords:
M＆A;
Chapter 11;
Distress;
Bankruptcy;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy
- November 2013
- Supplement
Arch Wireless, Inc. (B): Food for Vultures
By: Stuart C. Gilson
In 2002, a hedge fund investor acquires the distressed bank debt of a bankrupt wireless paging company and converts his holding into common stock of the reorganized entity. Determining his likely return from this investment is challenging, given that the entire...
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- December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
W.R. Grace & Co.: Dealing with Asbestos Torts
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
A manufacturer of building products and specialty chemicals, W. R. Grace & Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 in response to a flood of lawsuits alleging that its products contained asbestos, and had caused hundreds of thousands of people to contract...
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Keywords:
Bankruptcy Reorganization;
Business Failures;
Environmental Regulations;
Class Action Lawsuits;
Natural Environment;
Valuation;
Health Disorders;
Capital Structure;
Restructuring;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Chemicals;
Crisis Management;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy;
Legal Liability;
Construction Industry;
Chemical Industry;
United States
- August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Background Note
Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging
By: Willy Shih
Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business...
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Keywords:
Technology Transitions;
Competency-destroying;
Digital;
Analog;
Digital Transition;
Modular;
Modularity;
Technological Change;
Radical Innovation;
Incremental Innovation;
Architectural Innovation;
Modular Innovation;
Sustaining Innovation;
Competency-enhancing;
Noise Propagation;
Perfect Copying;
Digital Music;
Digital Media;
Consumer Electronics;
Kodak;
Sony;
Panasonic;
Disruptive Innovation;
Technology Adoption;
Transition;
Change Management;
Consumer Products Industry;
United States
- December 2009 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Lyondell Chemical Company
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott
Hit with an industry recession and the global financial crisis of 2008, in January 2009 LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A., one of the world's largest internationally diversified chemical companies headquartered in The Netherlands, placed its U.S. operations and a...
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- August 2009 (Revised February 2013)
- Case
Eddie Bauer (A)
By: Paul Healy, Sharon Katz and Aldo Sesia
In June 2005, Eddie Bauer, the specialty apparel retailer, emerged from bankruptcy. Under the plan of reorganization former creditors converted their debt into common shares, taking 100% ownership in the reconstituted company. Large banks-including Bank of America and...
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- March 2009
- Background Note
Note on the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA)
By: Stuart C. Gilson
In 2005, new legislation was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the President that introduced a number of major amendments to U.S. bankruptcy law, affecting both business and consumer bankruptcies. This legislation, called the Bankruptcy Abuse...
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- August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
- Case
Kmart and ESL Investments (A)
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott
A major bankrupt retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds ("vulture investors") will own over 50% of reorganized Kmart's common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart's debt claims, and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter...
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- January 2008 (Revised May 2009)
- Case
Restructuring at Delphi Corporation (A)
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
Delphi Corporation, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has filed a plan of reorganization with the court, under which a consortium of hedge funds led by Appaloosa Management will invest up to $2.6 billion in new equity. Also participating in the plan is...
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