Brian S. Hermann

Deputy Chair of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Department, and a member of the Firm’s Media & Entertainment Practice, Brian Hermann focuses on a range of restructuring and bankruptcy matters for both borrower and lender clients. He has extensive experience representing clients in complex out-of-court restructurings and chapter 11 cases nationwide and across a variety of industries. Brian also routinely represents clients in complex litigation arising out of chapter 11.

Experience

Brian's significant debtor representations include:

• Preferred Sands, one of North America's largest frac sand and resin technologies companies servicing the oil and gas industry, and its subsidiaries and affiliates in the out-of-court restructuring of their capital structure, including issuing equity and refinancing debt of approximately $680 million. Paul, Weiss was "commended" for our work on this transaction by the Financial Times' 2015 FT Innovative Lawyers awards;
• Bicent Holdings, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates, owners and operators of a portfolio of electric generation plants and an electric power industry services business, in connection with their pre-arranged chapter 11 case;
• the joint venture that owns the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel in the successful completion of its out-of-court restructuring of more than $840 million in debt;
• Progressive Molded Products, an Ontario-based auto supplier, and its U.S. subsidiaries and affiliates in connection with the company's cross-border bankruptcy cases; and
• Foamex International, one of North America's largest foam manufacturers, in its successful reorganization in chapter 11, which was consummated through the company's issuance of a $150 million in new equity through a rights offering, a new revolving credit agreement, and first and second lien debt through which the company borrowed approximately $613 million;

Brian has also represented a number of official and ad hoc committees, including:

• the Ad Hoc Committee of Certain First Lien Senior Secured Creditors of Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Company LLC in the company's chapter 11 case involving approximately $32 billion of secured and unsecured debt;
• the Informal Committee of Certain Holders of Second and Third Lien Secured Notes of Altegrity, Inc., a global risk and information services company that provides employment background screening and risk and information management services and solutions, as well as the DIP lenders, in connection with Altegrity's restructuring through a pre-arranged chapter 11 case;
• the Ad Hoc Group of Certain Bondholders of iPayment Inc. and iPayment Holdings, Inc., a provider of credit and debit card payment processing services to small merchants across the United States, in connection with an out-of-court exchange of (i) approximately $375 million of senior notes issued by iPayment Inc. into equity and new second lien notes and (ii) approximately $134 million of senior PIK notes issued by iPayment Holdings, Inc. into new second lien notes, warrants and equity;
• the Ad Hoc Committee of Unsecured Noteholders  in a cross-border restructuring of Essar Steel Algoma Inc., one of Canada's largest integrated steel manufacturers, in which the Company raised over $1.2 billion in connection with a comprehensive recapitalization and refinancing of its debt.  Pursuant to a restructuring support agreement and accompanying plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act, the unsecured noteholders received $252 million of junior exchange notes and approximately $136 million in cash on account of their prepetition claim in the amount of approximately $410 million;
• the Steering Committee of Senior Secured Noteholders of GMX Resources Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Texas. In connection with the successful consummation of the plan of reorganization supported by the steering committee, GMX significantly reduced its debt from approximately $505 million to $60 million through a debt-for-equity conversion in which senior secured noteholders received all of the equity interests in the reorganized company;
• the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tronox Incorporated in its chapter 11 cases. The company restructured through a complex settlement of its environmental liabilities and by raising $550 million in exit financing, including $185 million through an equity rights offering;
• the Bondholders of Nortek, Inc. in the company's prepackaged chapter 11 reorganization, which cut Nortek's total debt by roughly $1.3 billion;
• the Bondholders of CIT Group Inc. in connection with a $3 billion rescue loan that bridged the company to the first successful bankruptcy of a bank holding company and the largest prepackaged bankruptcy ever completed. This restructuring included negotiating $7.5 billion of emergency financing and a prepackaged reorganization plan to restructure approximately $33 billion in debt. The reorganization was accomplished in less than 45 days; and
• the Ad Hoc Committee of Bondholders of General Motors in the lead-up to the company's chapter 11 case.

His notable other significant bankruptcy cases include Hostess Brands, Spectrum Brands, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Mirant Corporation and NRG Energy, Inc.

Brian also represents JPMorgan Chase Funding Inc. (as successor to Bear Stearns Investment Products Inc.) in an adversary proceeding arising out of the bankruptcy cases of Thornburg Mortgage and its affiliates.

In addition to his work on the Fontainebleau restructuring, Brian has worked on a number of real-estate restructurings. These include his representation of the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association in connection with the restructuring of that property's multi-billion dollar CMBS and mezzanine debt and his prior representation of the owner of The Park Central Hotel in its chapter 11 case. Mr. Hermann also represented the Noble Drew Ali Tenants Association in the highly contentious bankruptcy of the Noble Drew Ali housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y.

A member of the Media and Entertainment Group, Brian has developed a sub-specialty working on a number of music, media and entertainment company restructurings and related matters. These include Brian's involvement in the following matters:

• the initial purchasers in connection with the Miramax film securitization;
• dick clark productions in the securitization of event television production contracts;
• a major financial institution in connection with its restructuring of a slate film financing;
• MGM Films, on behalf of a potential acquirer of its assets;
• a major music label in the chapter 11 case of Beyond Oblivion;
• a major music label in the chapter 11 case of Death Row Records;
• a major music label in the chapter 11 case of Big Idea Productions; and

• a major music label in the chapter 11 case of Watermelon Records.

Brian also has extensive experience representing a major music label in connection with various recording artist bankruptcies and out-of-court workouts.

Brian also writes frequently on bankruptcy issues and has published the following articles: "Bankruptcy Reforms and the High Net Worth Debtor" (New York Law Journal, March 3, 2008); "Recording Artists, Beware!" (New York Law Journal, March 5, 2007); "Deciphering Dana" (The Deal, "Judgment Call," December 1, 2006); "Disclosure Exposure," discussing the implication of new section 1102(b)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code (The Deal, August 21, 2006); "Supreme Court 2006: The Supremes Expand Bankruptcy Court Jurisdiction" (American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, July/August 2006); "The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 - A Primer on Those Changes Affecting Business Bankruptcies" (International Corporate Rescue, January 2006); "Delaware Court Invalidates Use of So-Called SPM Arrangement in Chapter 11 Plan" (American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May 2005); and "Distributing a Debtor's Intellectual Property - Does Bankruptcy Code §365(n) apply to agreements to sell recorded music, books, films or videos?" (New York Law Journal, November 22, 2004).

A member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association and the Practicing Law Institute's Bankruptcy and Creditor Rights Advisory Committee, Brian is recognized by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers in the area of bankruptcy and corporate restructuring.

Practices

• Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization
• Media & Entertainment
  

Education

• J.D., UCLA School of Law, 1996
• B.B.A., Pace University, 1991
  summa cum laude

Bar Admissions

• New York

See Library Tab for articles, publications and presentations by Brian Hermann