Wharton Restructuring and Turnaround Conference

Credit markets have rebounded quickly during the past year. Yet despite tighter spreads and higher asset prices, broader economic fundamentals have remained weak, creating an uncertain environment for many investors. This panel will explore a range of issues faced by investors, including: underlying economic risk and the potential for a second downturn; the changing face of the distressed hedge fund space, including the need for longer-term capital; what areas, if any, will continue to see dislocation due to a lack of available capital; and the prospect for distressed opportunities in particular industries and subsectors.

Cyrus Pardiwala - PricewaterhouseCoopers Ivan Krsticevic - Brigade Capital Management
Kevin Lydon - Strategic Value Partners
Andrew Milgram - Marblegate Asset Management
Stephen Moyer - PIMCO
Michael Weinstock - Monarch Alternative Capital

The restructuring of General Growth Properties (GGP) was a landmark case and a model for both corporate and commercial real estate restructurings. This panel will explore the issues encountered during the GGP chapter 11 case, including restructuring securitized debt, working with activist investors, bankruptcy remoteness of special purpose entities, hostile M&A and the completion of a recapitalization and complex spin-off transaction in the chapter 11 context to preserve and unlock value for existing shareholders. The experienced practitioners conducting this panel are leaders in their respective fields and will share their financial, strategic, legal and turnaround expertise, as well as lessons from the GGP case that can be applied to future commercial real estate and other corporate restructurings.

Elizabeth Abams - Miller Buckfire Ronen Bojmel - Miller Buckfire
Andrew Dietderich - Sullivan & Cromwell
John Dischner - AlixPartners
Marcia Goldstein - Weil Gotshal & Manges

With recent improvements in the credit markets during the second half of the year, firms have used the leveraged loan markets to pay nearly $40b of dividend recaps during 2010. Will these transactions serve as the basis for fraudulent conveyance during the next distressed cycle? This panel will consider the future implications of such transactions and the need for special investigators in the context of recent fraudulent conveyance cases.

William J. Nolan - FTI Consulting C.J. Brown - The Blackstone Group
Ron Greenspan - FTI Consulting
Eric Mendelsohn - Lazard
Jamie Sprayregen - Kirkland & Ellis
David Stern - Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern

The financial crisis has not only changed how companies perceive risk, but has also posed a serious challenge to their ability to grow revenue in the face of a slowing economy. Companies have significantly reduced their cost structures, but revenue growth remains an elusive challenge. How will the continued focus on de-leveraging affect top line growth opportunities? How can management increase revenue as consumers reduce spending? In what ways will the uncertainties in future government regulation affect the economy? Senior turnaround professionals, industry experts and management representatives will discuss the challenges and strategies for managing business in this new economic landscape with a focus on revenue growth opportunities. Panelists will compare past experiences from previous economic cycles to specific challenges of the current environment.

Alan Holtz - AlixPartners
Neil Heyside - CRG Partners
Thomas Kichler - One Equity Partners
Robert L. Olsen - DuPont
Mike Sinoway - AlixPartners

This panel will address the recent rise in out-of-court restructurings and pre-packaged chapter 11 cases and the possibility of a shift from traditional bankruptcy court proceedings during the next distressed cycle. Out-of-court restructurings and pre-packaged chapter 11 cases provide significant benefits over traditional chapter 11 cases, including, cost and time savings. This is nothing new, so why the new phenomenon? What is the downside to out-of-court restructurings? This panel will provide some recent examples of large out-of-court restructurings and pre-packaged chapter 11 cases and discuss the pros and cons.

Jeff Saferstein - Paul Weiss
Joshua C. Cascade - Wellspring Capital
Judge Robert Drain - US Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of New York
Agnes Tang - Perella Weinberg
Christopher Wilson - Houlihan Lokey

As the economy recovers and credit availability improves, the distressed cycle seems to have come to a close. Investors must now seek to create value amidst distressed opportunities, which are more difficult to locate. Panelists will share their opinions regarding lessons learned from the past economic downturn, the current state of the market, as well as what to anticipate in 2011. Panelists will also offer their views on how to position themselves in the current environment, strategies and tactics to identify opportunities, and ways to grow value in portfolio companies in the post-crisis world. Looking towards the future, the panel will discuss the potential impact from government and regulatory reform to distressed investors, as well as their views on innovation and expectations for the next cycle of distressed investing.

Mark Sponseller - Alvarez & Marsal Paul Halpern - Versa Capital Management
Kristopher Hansen - Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
Stan Parker - Apollo
David Simon - Littlejohn & Co.
Carl Stanton - Wellspring Capital Management