Biography
Gary is consistently ranked in the field of Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Chambers Global, Chambers USA and Legal 500 US. He is described by commentators in Chambers USA as a “talented bankruptcy attorney” and a “confident, experienced and calm” presence on complicated transactions. Most recently, Gary was named “Highly Regarded” for Restructuring and Insolvency in the U.S. by IFLR1000 (2020; 2022-2024), named a Leading Lawyer by Legal 500 (2020; 2022-2024), and named among 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers by Lawdragon (2020; 2022-2024). In 2021, he was named a “Crisis Leadership Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal. He was also named Turnarounds & Workouts’ Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers (2017 and 2020) and named a Law360 MVP in Bankruptcy (2016).
Representative Experience
Company-side Experience:
- Cano Health Inc., one of the largest independent primary care medical service provider groups in the United States, in its chapter 11 cases with approximately $1.5 billion in funded debt.
- Catalina Marketing Corporation, a digital media marketing company, in its prepackaged second chapter 11 cases with approximately $300 million in funded debt.
- Western Global Airlines, LLC, a contracted air cargo transportation and logistics services company with an aggregate principal amount of $515 million in funded debt, in its chapter 11 cases.
- Scandinavian Airlines, a publicly traded airline based in Sweden in connection with its global restructuring and chapter 11 reorganization.
- All Year Holdings Limited, a British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) company that operates as a holding company which, through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, focuses on the development, construction, acquisition, leasing and management of residential and commercial properties in Brooklyn, New York, in connection with its chapter 11 cases; and affiliate Evergreen Gardens Mezz, a real estate entity, in connection with its successful $506 million sale of the Denizen properties, which was consummated pursuant to a partially prepackaged joint chapter 11 plan in its separate chapter 11 cases.
- Brooks Brothers Group, Inc. and its affiliates, one of the nation’s premier clothing retailers, in their chapter 11 cases.
- Skillsoft Corporation, and its affiliates, a global leader in corporate learning, in their prepackaged chapter 11 cases with liabilities in excess of $2 billion.
- Briggs & Stratton Corporation, the world's largest small engine producer and a leading U.S. manufacturer of power generation, lawn and garden turf care, and job site products, in its successful chapter 11 case, involving over $500 million in funded debt, and sale to KPS.
- Speedcast International Limited, and its affiliates, a provider of remote communications and IT services, in their chapter 11 cases.
- Halcón Resources Corporation, and its affiliates, an independent oil and gas E&P operator, in its second pre-packaged chapter 11 case.
- Insys Therapeutics, Inc., and its six subsidiaries, a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes innovative drugs and drug delivery systems of therapeutic molecules that improve patients’ quality of life, in their chapter 11 cases with liabilities in excess of $100 million - $500 million.
- Fusion Connect, Inc., and its domestic subsidiaries, a telecommunications services provider, in their chapter 11 cases with liabilities in excess of $650 million.
- Catalina Marketing Corporation, a digital media marketing company, in its chapter 11 cases with liabilities in excess of $1.8 billion.
- Westinghouse Electric Company, a globally recognized nuclear power company, in its unprecedented chapter 11 cases involving liabilities in excess of $9 billion.
- Waypoint Holdings Ltd., a global specialty aircraft financing company, in its chapter 11 cases.
- GulfMark Offshore, a provider of offshore support vessels to oil and gas companies, in its prearranged chapter 11 restructuring of roughly $730 million in total debt.
- Azure Midstream Holdings, LLC and Azure Midstream Partners, LP, a midstream energy company, in the successful auction and sale of its midstream assets for $189 million. Process completed in its chapter 11 cases in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas and ultimately provided for repayment in full to creditors and a recovery to equity holders.
- The Brock Group, in its out-of-court restructuring of its $800 million of funded debt and takeover by American Industrial Partners. Houston, Texas-based Brock was a leading supplier of scaffolding and related construction materials.
- Memorial Production Partners LP, an upstream company focused on the acquisition, production and development of oil and gas properties in the U.S., in its $1.1 billion exchange of its 7.625% senior notes due 2021 and 6.875% senior notes due 2022 for 98% of its common equity interests as a restructured company under a pre-packaged chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.
- Halcón Resources Corporation, an independent oil and gas E&P operator with $2.89 B in total funded debt, in its pre-packaged chapter 11 case that resulted in a $1.8 billion reduction in debt.
- Paragon Offshore PLC, an offshore drilling company, in its chapter 11 cases.
- CHC Group Ltd., a global helicopter service provider to offshore oilfield producers, operating on six continents with more than 220 aircrafts, in their chapter 11 cases, involving liabilities in excess of $1.5 billion.
- Health Republic Insurance of New York, one of 23 co-ops across the US that began with the Affordable Care Act, in receivership proceedings following its abrupt shut down at the end of 2015.
- Endeavour International Corporation, an offshore drilling company, in its reorganization, which concluded with a structured dismissal of its chapter 11 cases.
- LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, an interactive content and connectivity solutions provider for the hotel and healthcare industry, in connection with its prepackaged chapter 11 filing.
- Vertis Holdings, Inc., one of the leading printers of advertising inserts, in its highly complex and revolutionary pre-packaged chapter 11 case, involving the merger of two distressed companies through simultaneous chapter 11 filings.Vertis merged with American Color Graphics in a ‘double prepack merger’, the first of its kind, resulting in the combination of two of the largest printing companies in North America and a joint restructuring of the companies’ debt obligations.
- International Aluminum Corporation, a manufacturer of diversified lines of quality aluminum and vinyl products, as well as its affiliated debtors, in their pre-negotiated chapter 11 cases.
- General Growth Properties, Inc., the second-largest owner and operator of shopping malls in the United States, which, despite approximately $27.3 billion in debt, emerged in November 2010 as a public company with a plan that paid creditors in full and returned substantial value to shareholders.
- Nortek, Inc., a global diversified industrial company with leading brands and innovative air management and technology-driven solutions for residential and commercial applications, as well as its 36 subsidiaries, in its pre-packaged chapter 11 case that reduced outstanding debt by $1.3 billion.
- Panolam Industries International Inc., a manufacturer of laminates used for indoor surfacing in both the residential and commercial construction industries, in its pre-packaged bankruptcy that resulted in a debt reduction of $151 million, or 44%.
- TI Automotive Ltd., a UK-based global manufacturer of fuel systems and other automotive parts, in its restructuring of approximately £610 million of debt.
- Pilgrim’s Pride, the second largest poultry producer in the US at the time, and a supplier to leading brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, as well as six of its subsidiaries, in its chapter 11 case that resulted in the restructuring of approximately $2.4 billion of debt, and the sale of a 64% stake to JBS USA Holdings.
- Highland Hospitality Corporation, a chain of 28 upscale hotels, in its out-of-court restructuring of nearly $2 billion of debt.
- Silicon Graphics, a manufacturer of high-end computers, in its chapter 11 case.
- Parmalat USA Corporation, a unit of the Italian dairy company Parmalat Finanziaria SPA, as well as two of its affiliates, in its chapter 11 case.The company’s parent, Parmalat Finanziaria SPA, declared insolvency a year earlier due to severe financial difficulties that were mainly the result of major accounting irregularities being discovered.
- Velocita Corporation, a telecommunications services company with approximately $827 million in debt, as well as its affiliates, in their chapter 11 cases and subsequent sale of substantially all of their assets to AT&T in a section 363 sale.
- Aspire LLC, an offshore drilling company, in its restructuring.
Creditor and Distressed Acquisition Experience:
- Jefferson Capital Systems LLC, a portfolio company of J.C. Flowers & Co., as the successful purchaser of certain assets in the chapter 11 cases of Conn’s, Inc.
- SoftBank Group Corp. and SoftBank Vision Fund II in transactions related to debt and equity investments in WeWork Inc., a global flexible space provider in connection with WeWork’s chapter 11 cases with $3.8 billion in aggregate principal amount of funded debt.
- Digital Realty and Digital CR US REIT and certain of their affiliates and subsidiaries in the chapter 11 cases of Cyxtera Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded global data center colocation and interconnection services provider.
- Apollo Global Management and affiliated funds, as Tranche B DIP Lender in connection with LATAM Airlines’ multi-tranche DIP financing totaling more than $3.1 billion in the aggregate; LATAM Airlines is Latin America’s leading airline group.
- Monarch Alternative Capital, as the new-money DIP lender to the Eagle Hospitality debtors and purchaser for 10 hotels in the portfolio of Eagle Hospitality in connection with the chapter 11 case of Eagle Hospitality Trust (“EHT US1, Inc.”), a real estate investment trust holding diverse hotel properties in the United States.
- Softbank, as majority equity holder and DIP lender in the chapter 11 cases of Katerra Inc., a provider of new build, construction, and renovation services.
- Monarch Alternative Capital, in its acquisition of the Orlando Crowne Plaza hotel through the section 363 asset sale in the chapter 11 case of Universal Towers Construction, Inc.
- Ambac Assurance UK Limited, as financial guarantor in the chapter 15 case of Ballantyne Re plc, an Irish SPV that holds numerous contractual obligations/benefits related to reinsurance of life insurance policies (known as a “block of business”), in its efforts to retire approximately $1.92 billion in outstanding notes.
- General Electric Capital Corporation, in connection with various representations, including but not limited to the following companies: WMC, Budget Rent-A-Car, Calpine, Circuit City, Clark Retail Enterprises, Comdisco, Conseco Finance, E-Z Serve Convenience Stores, JHT Holdings, Inc., Kmart, KMC Telecom, Montgomery Ward, Penton Media, Sea Containers, Spectrum Brands, Viskase, Xerox.
- Violin Memory, Inc., in connection with its strategic planning and subsequent chapter 11 proceedings, as counsel to the ad hoc group of noteholders, including Soros Fund Management, Jefferies, Phoenix Asset Management, Nokota Management and Silverback Asset Management.
- Magnum Hunter Resources, in connection with its chapter 11 cases, as counsel to an ad hoc group of second lien lenders.
- Brookfield Asset Management, as one of the largest first lien creditors in the chapter 11 cases of Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Company LLC and its debtor affiliates.
- Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), as a creditor in the chapter 9 case of the City of Detroit, and worked on behalf of Benjamin M. Lawsky, the Superintendent of Financial Services of the State of New York, as the Court-appointed rehabilitator of FGIC in the first rehabilitation proceeding involving a financial guaranty insurance company in New York (and the second such proceeding in the United States at the time).
- Syncora Guarantee, Inc., a financial guarantee insurance provider that insured payment of principal and interest under certain securities issued by mortgage-backed trusts holding loans serviced and/or originated by certain of the debtors in the chapter 11 cases of Residential Capital LLC and its affiliates.
- HPS Investment Partners LLC, in connection with various restructurings including, J.G. Wentworth, Athabasca, EMES, and Utica.
- Aquilex Holdings LLC, in connection with its out-of-court restructuring, as counsel to the sponsor, Teachers’ Private Capital (private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan).
- Goldman Sachs, in connection with various restructurings.
Awards and Recognition, Speaking Engagements, Guides and Resources, Latest Thinking, Firm News & Announcements
Awards and Recognition
- Gary Holtzer Named “Highly Regarded” for Restructuring and Insolvency in the U.S. in 2024 Award Brief — IFLR1000
- Gary Holtzer Named Among the 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers in 2024 Award Brief — Lawdragon
- Gary Holtzer Named Leading Lawyer in Finance: Restructuring (Including Bankruptcy): Corporate in 2024 Award Brief — Legal 500
- Gary Holtzer Named “Highly Regarded” for Restructuring and Insolvency in the U.S. in 2023 Award Brief — IFLR1000
- Gary Holtzer Named Leading Lawyer in Finance: Restructuring (Including Bankruptcy): Corporate in 2023 Award Brief — Legal 500
Speaking Engagements
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Comparative Corporate Insolvency Issues: DIP Financing, Third-Party Releases
Speaker(s):
Gary T. Holtzer
October 27, 2023 — Waikiki, Hawaiʻi — Symposium presented by Hawaiʻi Bankruptcy Bar Association (HBBA) & Institute of Asian-Pacific Business Law (IAPBL) William S. Richardson School of Law University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa - Insolvency Law and Reform in the Aftermath of the Global Pandemic: Recent Developments in Hawaiʻi, the United States and Asia
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Guides SAS Through a Successful Emergence from Chapter 11 Deal Brief — August 29, 2024
- Seven Weil Partners Named Leading Global Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers by Lawdragon in 2024 Firm Announcement — June 24, 2024
- Weil Guides SoftBank in Successful Restructuring of $4 Billion in WeWork Debt Deal Brief — June 13, 2024
- Weil Advises on the Recapitalization and Refinancing of Brookfield Portfolio Company Schoeller Packaging B.V. Deal Brief — December 13, 2023
- Eight Weil Partners Named Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers by Lawdragon in 2023 Firm Announcement — June 16, 2023