Curtis Honored With Pre-Packaged Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year Turnaround Atlas Award and Three Other Turnaround Awards

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP was honored this year at the annual Turnaround Atlas Awards presented by the Global M&A Network for its role as lead counsel in the pre-packaged bankruptcy restructuring of client Cygnus Business Media in 2009. Curtis, along with Cygnus' financial advisor Zolfo Cooper LLC and investment banker Miller Buckfire & Co., LLC was awarded the “Pre-Packaged Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year” award for the restructuring of companies with less than $1 billion in assets.

Cygnus was not the only Curtis transaction to be honored at the annual Turnaround Atlas Awards. Curtis acted as conflicts counsel in three chapter 11 reorganizations that were also recognized by the Global M&A Network for their successful transactions: CIT Group, Bally Total Fitness and Charter Communications, Inc.

The Turnaround Atlas Awards, which were held in Chicago in June 2010, recognize outstanding performances from the distressed M&A, restructuring and reorganization communities.

In the Cygnus restructuring, Curtis obtained confirmation of the debtors' Joint Plan of Reorganization a mere 35 days after the Chapter 11 cases were filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The reorganization, in which Curtis acted as lead counsel to the company and its affiliates, provided for the reduction of Cygnus' secured indebtedness from more than $206 million to $60 million.

The Curtis team responsible for this outcome includes partners Timothy Barnes and Jerrold Bregman and associate Veronique Hodeau from the Restructuring and Insolvency group; Partners Evan Borenstein and Valarie Hing and associate Joshua Geller from the Corporate group; Partner Turner Smith from the Litigation group ; Partner Martin Forman from the Real Estate group; and partner Eduardo Cukier and associate Thomas Reilly from the Tax group.

CIT Group received the Turnaround Atlas Award for the “Pre-Packaged Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year” for companies with more than $1 billion in assets. It was the fifth largest Chapter 11 restructuring ever.

Bally Total Fitness received the “Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year” award for companies with $500 million - $1 billion in assets. The reorganization plan cleared the way for the U.S. health club operator to emerge from Chapter 11 by reducing its debt by roughly $700 million to less than $100 million.

Charter Communications, Inc. received the Industry Turnaround Award of the Year for the “Telecom & Technology” category. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck said the bankruptcy plan resolved one of the most complex battles ever between a company and a lender and will also allow the fourth-largest cable operator to “flourish.”