Overview
International law firm McDermott Will & Emery is proud to announce that its client Agera Energy was honored with the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2020 “Asset Sale of the Year” award. Each year, this award recognizes only one distressed asset sale that displays excellence across the full spectrum of the sale process. The award reflects innovative strategies and solutions necessary to overcome the complexities and challenges of a distressed transaction. McDermott acted as lead bankruptcy and transaction counsel to Agera.
Agera Energy was a retail electricity and natural gas provider for commercial, industrial and residential customers in 16 states. Prior to and after filing for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on October 4, 2019, Agera conducted a lengthy marketing process in an effort to sell its assets on a standalone customer book basis or as whole platform. Ultimately, Agera selected Exelon Generation Company/Constellation as its stalking horse bidder to acquire all of Agera’s in-the-money customer contracts.
Following several months of contentious negotiations with Exelon and BP Energy Company (Agera’s prepetition secured lender), the bankruptcy court approved the sale, but not without incident. McDermott vigilantly warded off state regulators that were owed millions for Agera’s historical (and continued) failure to comply with renewable energy standards. McDermott was also successful in keeping a majority of Agera’s customer book intact, despite attempts by former brokers to transfer Agera’s customers to other energy suppliers. These efforts included obtaining a temporary restraining order against one of Agera’s competitors shortly after the bankruptcy filing.
The McDermott relationship partner for this matter was Darren Azman. The restructuring team also included Tim Walsh, Megan Preusker, Ravi Vohra, Riley Orloff, Daniel Thomson, Natalie Rowles, Darren Yang and Daniel Northrop.
The transaction team was led by Debra Harrison with significant energy regulatory support from Rob Lamkin.
Corporate support was provided by Mark Mihanovic, insurance support was provided by Mark Collins, an internal investigation was led by Michael Ungar, real estate support was provided by Brian Donnelly and Ian Gall, labor and litigation support was provided by Evan Belosa and general litigation support was provided by Michael Murray.
Invaluable assistance was provided by Raima Jamal, in-house counsel at Agera Energy.
About McDermott
McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices, industries and more than 20 locations to deliver highly effective—and often unexpected—solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.
