James H.M. "Jamie"
Sprayregen

Co-Head of Restructuring & Debt Capital Solutions, Jamie Sprayregen has spent more than three decades leading many of the largest and most complex restructurings, representing debtors, creditors, boards of directors and other key stakeholders. Jamie has advised on numerous high-profile cross-border distressed situations, and his work has touched a wide range of industries.

Chambers USA (2022) sources have described Jamie as “a rock star—the Mick Jagger of the bankruptcy bar,” noting that he is “probably the best restructuring lawyer in the world” and “a luminary in the field.” Prior editions of Chambers USA have praised him as “a restructuring genius and one of the best strategists in the country” who has a “great ability to take extraordinarily complex issues and make them understandable for boards and executive management teams.” Jamie has been consistently ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, among other global directories. In 2013, Jamie was named “Global Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyer of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal Awards. He was inducted into the Turnaround Management Association’s Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2010 was selected by The National Law Journal as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers.” In 2018, The M&A Advisor honored Jamie with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jamie leverages decades of corporate restructuring and capital solutions experience, including lengthy stints in private practice and on the business and financial advisory side. He founded the worldwide restructuring practice at another major firm, building it into a leading international restructuring practice, then left to co-head the Restructuring Group at Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2008, advising clients and deploying capital in restructuring and distressed situations, before returning to private practice for 16 years. From 2024 to 2026, he served as Vice Chairman, Global Strategy & Growth at Hilco Global, a diversified financial services company and subsidiary of ORIX Corporation delivering integrated professional services and capital solutions.

From 2013 to 2015, Jamie served as President of INSOL International, the world’s leading international insolvency association. He was as an adjunct full professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught a joint course on corporate restructuring with Penn Law. Jamie is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and a former member of the ABI Bankruptcy Reform Commission. He is a frequent speaker and writer on issues pertaining to restructuring.

Representative Experience

Energy & Infrastructure

• Edison Mission Energy and certain subsidiaries in its chapter 11 restructuring of approximately $5 billion of bond and project finance debt
• Energy Future Holdings Corp. and 71 affiliates in their chapter 11 cases — the largest operating chapter 11 case ever filed in Delaware and the seventh largest in history, involving over $49 billion in liabilities and $36 billion in assets
• LINN Energy and affiliates in its chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of Texas
• McDermott International and 225 subsidiaries and affiliates in prepackaged chapter 11 cases confirmed in less than 60 days, deleveraging over $4 billion of funded debt, preserving $2.4 billion in prepetition letters of credit, and facilitating the $2.725 billion sale of the Lummus technology business
• NRG Energy in its chapter 11 reorganization, including negotiation of a $752 million settlement from NRG’s parent company and the distribution of $3.4 billion to creditors
• Samson Resources in its chapter 11 restructuring of more than $4 billion of debt
• SandRidge Energy in its prearranged chapter 11 cases filed with support of holders of more than two-thirds of its $4.1 billion of funded debt
• Seadrill Limited and certain subsidiaries in a multijurisdictional restructuring of approximately $20 billion in contract and debt obligations, one of the largest filings of 2017 by asset size, resulting in the re-profiling of approximately $6 billion of secured debt and elimination of approximately $3.5 billion of unsecured obligations
• Ultra Petroleum in its chapter 11 restructuring in the Southern District of Texas
• Valaris plc and its subsidiaries, the world’s largest offshore driller by fleet size, in their prearranged chapter 11 cases equitizing all $7.1 billion of prepetition funded debt, including a $500 million DIP facility and $500 million backstop rights offering

Food & Beverage

• AmeriServe Food Distribution, the largest fast food distribution company in the U.S., and its affiliates in their chapter 11 cases
• Chiquita Brands, a multibillion-dollar international food products company operating in 60 countries, in connection with its prearranged chapter 11 plan, completed in approximately four months
• DavCo Restaurants, the world’s largest Wendy’s franchisee, in all its restructuring activities
• Fleming Companies, then the nation’s largest distributor of consumable packaged goods, in all aspects of its restructuring, maintaining operations throughout and paying more than $7.7 billion to taxing agencies, vendors, employees and service providers
• The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) and subsidiaries in their chapter 11 cases, with $2.5 billion in assets and $3.2 billion in debt
• Jitney Jungle Stores, a grocery store retailer with annual sales of approximately $2 billion, and its affiliates in all aspects of its corporate restructuring and chapter 11 cases
• Sbarro Inc., an owner, operator and franchisor of Italian quick service restaurants, and 27 affiliates in its chapter 11 cases

Retail & Consumer

• Dade Behring Holdings, the world’s largest company dedicated solely to in vitro diagnostics products, in its prepackaged chapter 11 case confirmed within 47 days of filing
• HomePlace Stores, a 200-store national retailer with revenues of approximately $1 billion, in connection with its chapter 11 proceedings
• MEGA Brands in its chapter 15 bankruptcy cases to recognize its Canadian restructuring — the first time a company restructured under the CBCA and then obtained U.S. chapter 15 recognition
• Toys “R” Us and several subsidiaries in one of the largest ever retail chapter 11 filings in the Eastern District of Virginia, including global settlement agreements among all stakeholders and five distinct chapter 11 plans
• Zenith Electronics Corporation in its prepackaged chapter 11 case, completed in under three months, including cross-border insolvency issues in connection with its acquisition by LG Electronics

Media & Communications

• Avaya, a leading multinational technology company, in its chapter 11 cases involving more than $6 billion in funded debt obligations, recognized by the Turnaround Management Association as “Mega Company Transaction of the Year” in 2018
• Cengage Learning in its chapter 11 restructuring, deleveraging by approximately $4 billion and emerging in less than nine months
• DBSD North America and subsidiaries in their prearranged chapter 11 cases restructuring approximately $800 million in outstanding liabilities
• iHeartMedia and certain subsidiaries in their chapter 11 restructuring — the largest chapter 11 of 2018 based on outstanding debt, reducing the company’s debt by more than $10 billion out of over $20 billion consolidated
• ION Media Networks, owner and operator of the nation’s largest broadcast television station group and ION Television, and 116 affiliates in their chapter 11 cases
• Reader’s Digest Association in its prearranged chapter 11 cases
• Source Interlink Companies and affiliates in its prepackaged reorganization
• United Artists Theatre Company, one of the largest movie theater chains in the country, and its affiliates in their prearranged chapter 11

Manufacturing

• Babcock & Wilcox, a worldwide manufacturer of boilers and other products with approximately $1.5 billion in revenue, in its chapter 11 case involving hundreds of thousands of asbestos claims
• Harnischfeger Industries, a manufacturer of pulp and papermaking machinery and mining equipment, and 59 of its subsidiaries with annual sales of $2 billion, in their chapter 11 reorganization cases
• U.S. Concrete, Inc. and its affiliates, a leading provider of ready-mixed concrete products, in their prearranged chapter 11 restructuring of approximately $315 million in funded indebtedness, successfully equitizing approximately $285 million in bond debt
• W.R. Grace, a multibillion-dollar international chemical manufacturer, in its asbestos-related restructuring activities

Aviation, Automotive and Other Transportation

• Dura Automotive Systems and certain subsidiaries in their chapter 11 cases
• Hawker Beechcraft, a world-leading aircraft manufacturer, in prearranged chapter 11 cases equitizing $2.5 billion of funded debt
• Japan Airlines Corporation, Asia’s largest air carrier, as international restructuring counsel advising on all aspects of the restructuring of its global operations and representing it in cases; JAL maintained $28 billion in debt at the time of filing
• Lear Corporation, a leading global automotive supplier, in its prearranged chapter 11 reorganization involving 2008 net sales of $13.6 billion and more than 80,000 employees
• Neff Corporation, a construction equipment rental company, in its prearranged chapter 11 restructuring, recognized by The Turnaround Management Association as “Transaction of the Year - Mid-Size Company” in 2011
• Tower Automotive, Inc. and certain affiliates in its chapter 11 cases
• Trans World Airlines in its chapter 11 case, including the $5 billion sale to American Airlines and subsequent plan of reorganization
• UAL Corp. (United Airlines), the world’s second largest airline, and certain affiliates in their chapter 11 reorganization — one of the largest bankruptcy cases ever filed — restructuring leases on approximately 450 aircraft generating approximately $850 million of annual savings, and restructuring $1.7 billion in municipal bond obligations and multibillions of dollars in labor and pension agreements
• Visteon Corporation, a global automotive electronics technology company, in its chapter 11 reorganization
• YRC Worldwide, one of the country’s largest LTL transportation businesses, in a comprehensive multi-year out-of-court restructuring of more than $1.5 billion in bond and secured debt, supported by major unions, more than 20 multi-employer pension funds and all lenders

Real Estate, Gaming & Hospitality

• Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. in its chapter 11 restructuring of more than $18.4 billion in funded debt, recognized by the Turnaround Management Association as “Mega Company Turnaround of the Year” in 2018
• GGPLP LLC (General Growth Properties) and certain affiliates in their chapter 11 reorganization — the largest REIT chapter 11 in U.S. history, restructuring approximately $15 billion in debt across 144 properties, recognized as the Turnaround Management Association “2011 Transaction of the Year – Mega Company”
• Innkeepers USA Trust, owner and operator of 72 hotel properties under Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and other premium brands across 19 states, in its chapter 11 reorganization restructuring approximately $1.4 billion in debt
• ITR Concession Company, operator of the Indiana Toll Road, in a prepackaged chapter 11 restructuring of more than $6 billion of senior secured debt, supported by nearly 99% of senior secured creditors prior to filing
• Majestic Star Casino and affiliates in their chapter 11 cases
• MSR Resort Golf Course and 29 affiliates in their chapter 11 reorganization, involving five iconic luxury resort properties including the Grand Wailea, La Quinta Resort & Club, Arizona Biltmore, Doral Golf Resort, and Claremont Hotel
• South Bay Expressway, San Diego County’s only toll road, in its chapter 11 reorganization

Financial Services

• An ad hoc committee of certain secured term loan lenders in Capmark Financial Group’s chapter 11 cases, involving more than $10.6 billion of funded debt
• Conseco, Inc. and certain subsidiaries in one of the ten largest chapter 11 filings in history, involving the heavily regulated industries of finance, banking and insurance
• Corus Bankshares, Inc., formerly the holding company of Corus Bank, N.A., a federally chartered bank with approximately $7 billion in assets, in its restructuring following regulatory closure
• KPS Capital Partners in its acquisition of certain assets of Waterford Wedgwood plc
• Loxley Public Company Limited in the restructuring of $205 million in convertible bonds involving issues in the U.S., Great Britain, Thailand and Singapore
• Syncora Holdings and certain subsidiaries in connection with the City of Detroit’s Chapter 9 case — the largest municipal bankruptcy in history with more than $18 billion in liabilities
• An ad hoc committee of bondholders and Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Williams Communications, negotiating a consensual plan that converted approximately $6 billion in debt to equity and was confirmed within six months