A partner in 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.

Brian’s significant debtor representations include:

• 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;
• 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;
• Cone Mills Corporation, in its chapter 11 case which culminated in the sale of substantially all of its assets to WL Ross & Co.; and
• The Penn Traffic Company in connection with its chapter 11 case.

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

• 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;
• an Ad Hoc Group of Senior Subordinated Bondholders of Simmons Bedding Company in the company’s prepackaged chapter 11 filing. The filing was part of a larger plan for the $760 million purchase of the company by private equity fund Ares Management LLC and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan;
• 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 Spectrum Brands, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Mirant Corporation and NRG Energy, Inc.

In addition to his work on the Fontainebleau restructuring, Brian has worked on a number of real-estate restructurings. These include his current 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:

• Barclays Capital and Jefferies as initial purchasers in connection with the Miramax film securitization;
• 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;
• Beyond Oblivion, in its chapter 11 case;
• Death Row Records, in its chapter 11 case;
• Big Idea Productions, in its chapter 11 case; and
• Watermelon Records, in its chapter 11 case.

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 and by Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy and corporate restructuring.