A multi-disciplinary team of Dechert attorneys recently finalized a long-standing matter allowing a sovereign wealth fund to purchase numerous hotel assets out of the high profile bankruptcy of CNL/MSR Resorts. The firm has represented this client since 2006 when it made its initial loan to CNL/MSR, which was indirectly secured by five high-end luxury resorts (including the iconic Arizona Biltmore and the Grand Wailea in Hawaii). CNL/MSR Resorts filed for Chapter 11 on February 1, 2011 and the firm worked with this client to make an offer to buy the assets owned by the Debtors within a week after the filing. That initial offer was rebuffed and so began a two-year process to gain control of the resorts.
The Dechert team guided our client through numerous negotiations with the parties in the bankruptcy which ultimately resulted in a plan of reorganization that provided for the sale of four of the assets to our client (one was sold off earlier in the bankruptcy), a challenging real estate acquisition and financing under the shadow of litigious maneuvering designed to stop the sale, numerous litigation battles in the Southern District of New York bankruptcy court and one last round in the district court as a junior creditor appealed the confirmation order and sought to stay the sale pending that appeal. The ultimate purchase of the four assets – on terms similar to those originally offered – occurred on February 28, 2013.
This engagement exemplifies Dechert’s cross-practice teamwork, which included attorneys from the firm’s bankruptcy, litigation, real estate, intellectual property and tax groups. Led by partners Laura Ciabarra and Michael Sage, the team included: Krystyna Blakeslee, Margaret Budnik, Katherine Burroughs, Karen Daly, Daniel Dunn, Hector Gonzalez, Paul Goulet, Brian Greer, Glenn Gunderson, Michael Hirschfeld, Rebecca Kahan, David Kotler, Paul McAleer, Stewart McQueen, Joshua Milgrim, Kathleen Mylod, Joshua Rawson, Thomas Rayski, Nicole Herther-Spiro, Claude Tusk and Kenneth Wang.
