John Bessonette became a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP at the start of 2008, months before the great financial crisis caused a significant slowdown in the types of corporate work that Bessonette had done as an associate.
But that economic distress led to an increase in bankruptcy and restructuring work, an area in which Bessonette developed expertise, as he described on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast. He advised an ad hoc group of holders of $3.5 billion of first-lien bonds issued by Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. after the Reno, Nev.-based hospitality and casino entertainment company filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2015 and has worked with creditors in several other restructurings.
While M&A negotiations tend to be “bilateral,” Bessonette said, the complicated debt structures in restructurings such as Caesars meant a much more dynamic situation involving numerous players. But the rise of private credit as a replacement for other forms of debt after 2008 has meant a greater ability for creditors and challenged companies to rework corporate capital structures outside bankruptcy, said Bessonette, who is advising Nuveen Asset Management LLC and Avenue Capital Management II LP on their $3.25 billion agreement to sell a 15% equity interest in Vistra Vision LLC to Vistra Corp. (VST), a deal expected to close Dec. 31.
He also discussed Kramer Levin’s pending merger with Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, announced Nov. 11. “The firms are very complementary. There’s not an overlap geographically. The cultures line up very well. People are excited about it,” Bessonette said.
Listen to the podcast with John Bessonette below:
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