Weil’s Ramona Nee, Matt Barr Discuss Firm’s Global Restructuring Practice With Barr’s Promotion

By Harvard Zhang

Weil Gotshal’s global restructuring practice is ready for the spotlight.

The evolution of capital markets, corporate clients and their global reach, as well as restructuring tools in various jurisdictions, calls for a different approach to restructuring, according to Matt Barr, Weil’s newly appointed global chair of the restructuring department.

“We do big, hairy, complex, global cases more than our peers because of our depth throughout the world,” Barr said in an interview with Octus. “We are focused on providing solutions to our clients’ problems and achieving their goals and finding the best place to do that.”

“Restructuring is one of our strategic focuses for growth,” according to Ramona Nee, Weil’s incoming executive partner. “Putting Matt into a global position helps us organize, integrate and recruit for the restructuring practice and offer our clients the best service possible.”

Weil’s global capabilities and prestigious brand as well as its lawyers’ track record and excellent lawyering led to many restructuring engagements, including First Brands. Two lawyers at the auto parts manufacturer, who worked on deals previously across from Barr, emailed him when they were looking for representation for the company.

Weil is well suited to advise on the highly complicated $13 billion restructuring, having represented clients in some of the biggest and complex chapter 11 cases in history, including Lehman Brothers and Enron.

The group has also never stopped innovating. It pioneered the “stapled exchange” and “international two-step” for Fossil Group’s restructuring last year as well as syncreon’s restructuring in 2019, the first-ever use of an English scheme by a U.S.-based company.

As another example of Weil’s global reach, Octus reported last month that UAE-based food products manufacturer IFFCO is working with Weil Gotshal and that a chapter 11 is on the table.

Barr’s group is expected to continue to work closely with Weil’s banking and finance team, where Justin Lee serves as co-head as well as global head of liability management and strategic capital solutions. Weil famously executed perhaps the first liability management exercise, a drop-down in J.Crew in 2016, and is currently advising on more than 25 LME deals this year globally, totaling over $35 billion in liabilities.

Weil’s clients do not hire a lawyer but an entire team, and the platform operates as a single, organic institution across corporate and private equity, tax, finance, litigation and restructuring, according to Nee, who is currently Weil’s co-managing partner and co-head of the firm’s U.S. private equity practice.

“Justin is so integrated into our department, and restructuring lawyers are helping on LME deals too,” Barr said. “We have adopted a very conscious business approach, as the markets and our clients evolve. When I started practicing law 30 years ago, I was a bankruptcy lawyer. The world has changed, and you don’t see the B-word in lawyers’ titles that often anymore.”

Barr will assume the responsibility of ensuring global coordination and collaboration as part of his new role. The highly respected lawyer, who is well-liked in the industry, will continue to advise clients on deals as well as mentoring the next generation of leaders in Weil’s restructuring group.
 

EchoStar Corp.

The recently filed “prepackaged” chapter 11 case of DISH DBS and DISH Wireless included both a straightforward and light-touch restructuring of the DISH DBS bond debt, pursuant to a long-disclosed RSA and a de facto liquidation of DWLLC, the primary operating entity for the company’s fledgling wireless effort before last year’s spectrum sales. The most unusual and controversial feature of the plan, in our view, is the proposed impaired accepting class at the Wireless debtors, which is dominated by an intercompany claim that has been assigned to a newly created trust for the benefit of the DBS bondholders who are party to the RSA. Octus’ coverage of EchoStar Corp. can be found HERE.

U.S. Renal Care

The Bain Capital, Summit Partners and Revelstoke Capital Partners-backed dialysis provider is seeking a potential high-yield bond via Barclays split between first lien and second lien tranches to refinance its 10.625% first lien 2028 notes and 2028 term loan B. In May, it was reported the company was weighing refinancing its debt in either the broadly syndicated or private credit market on the back of strong operating performance. First-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA rose 10.5% year over year to $63 million, with total liquidity of $278 million, including $151.6 million in cash while total debt stood at $1.96 billion with gross leverage of 7x. Octus’ coverage of U.S. Renal Care is HERE.

Fortna Group

The warehouse automation company, sponsored by Thomas H. Lee Partners, saw its first lien term loan B due 2029 sink to about 20 cents from 54 cents three months ago. This comes amid reports the company is looking to negotiate a restructuring of its debt. A majority lender group is working with Gibson Dunn and Centerview Partners, while a minority group of lenders with around $150 million in term loan holdings has organized with Hogan Lovells Cadwalader as legal advisor. The company is being advised by Paul Weiss and Evercore. Octus’ coverage of Fortna Group is HERE.

Dye & Durham

Certain creditors of the legal technology provider have signed a cooperation agreement prepared by their legal advisor Paul Hastings. This comes as the company contends with higher leverage, weak cash flow and management turnover, while it works with longtime counsel Goodmans. The company is in a sales process having received preliminary first-round bids for both the whole company and its Canadian financial services division valuing it at 1.7 billion to 1.8 billion Canadian dollars. Octus’ coverage of Dye & Durham is HERE.

Leslie’s

The pool supplies and services retailer is weighing restructuring options including a potential chapter 11 filing as subdued demand pressures liquidity, although no decision has been made. The company is working with Simpson Thacher as legal advisor while an ad hoc group of term lenders represented by Akin Gump has signed a cooperation agreement. The company had $97.1 million of total liquidity as of April and faces a March 2028 term loan maturity. Octus’ coverage of Leslie’s is HERE.

Cloudera

Certain large lenders to the CD&R and KKR-backed data and analytics software company have been working with Davis Polk to analyze its debt documents amid concerns over AI-related sector disruption. Preliminary adjusted EBITDA for the last 12 months through the first quarter fell 5% year over year to $359 million while annual recurring revenue rose 3% to $1 billion. During an earnings call last week, management discussed its expectation for revenue growth and new products in the second half of the year. The company’s $1.64 billion first lien term loan B due 2028 has rebounded to 86.43 from about 76 a week earlier. Octus’ coverage of Cloudera is HERE.

Domtar

The paper and pulp producer is working with Barclays to explore a sale of its paper assets to shore up dwindling liquidity as it burns cash in a weakening pulp and lumber market. Domtar is seeking advice from Moelis as investment banker and Latham & Watkins as counsel while a lender group has engaged Davis Polk and Perella Weinberg Partners. First-quarter 2026 consolidated sales fell 9.8% year over year to $1.678 billion, and S&P downgraded the company to CCC+ from B-, citing negative free operating cash flow and roughly $1.9 billion of debt maturing in 2028. Octus’ coverage of Domtar is HERE.

Getty Images

An ad hoc group of creditors for the photo archive business is working with Houlihan Lokey as financial advisor. This group is represented by Gibson Dunn as legal counsel, as the company navigates liquidity strain following the June 30 termination of its Shutterstock merger. The company’s $580 million term loan due 2030 has declined to 73.5 from 86 since the announcement of the termination of the pending merger. Octus’ coverage of Getty Images is HERE.

QVC Group

Judge Alfredo Perez confirmed the QVC debtors’ prepackaged plan of reorganization on July 15. In a 103-page opinion, the judge overruled objections from a Glenn Agre-represented group of QVCG preferred shareholders who opposed the intercompany plan settlement between QVC and ultimate parent QVCG and argued the plan lacks an impaired accepting non-insider class of creditors at QVCG.

Judge Perez held that the QVCG/QVC settlement negotiations were “a thorough, fair, and arm’s-length process” and “[n]o disinterested fiduciaries capitulated to any other, and the ultimate outcome for stakeholders was not preordained.” The QVCG preferred shareholder group appealed the ruling on July 16. Octus’ QVC Group coverage is HERE.

New Fortress Energy

On July 14, Judge Martin Glenn issued an opinion explaining his June 26 bench ruling recognizing New Fortress Energy’s, or NFE’s, Part 26A English restructuring proceeding as a foreign main proceeding under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code.

In the chapter 15 case, U.K.-incorporated affiliates of New York-based NFE sought U.S. enforcement of their debt swap plans that were approved under Part 26A of the U.K. Companies Act to address $5.7 billion of funded debt obligations. Judge Glenn writes that the company’s use of “COMI tourism” – establishing U.K.-based affiliates and then seeking chapter 15 recognition of their U.K. plans – meets Bankruptcy Code requirements and achieves better outcomes for creditors than alternatives. Octus’ New Fortress Energy coverage is HERE.

DISH DBS and DISH Wireless

On July 16, DISH Wireless tower lessor Crown Castle moved to designate, or disregard, the DWLLC claims trust’s $8.8 billion vote to accept the debtors’ prepackaged plan, arguing the debtors “conjured” the sham intercompany claim voted by the trust “to force confirmation” of the DISH Wireless debtors’ plan despite opposition from their “legitimate” creditors. Crown Castle says the DISH Wireless plan cannot be confirmed if the DWLLC trust’s vote is disregarded.

Tower lessors Crown Castle, American Tower and SBA oppose the DISH Wireless plan and assert more than $5 billion in lease claims, which would swamp accepting votes if the DWLLC trust’s vote is disregarded or substantially reduced for voting purposes. The debtors moved to drastically reduce the tower lessor’s claims for voting purposes on July 7. Octus’ EchoStar coverage is HERE.

Twelve states, led by California, filed suit to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, or WBD, asserting that the merger would “extinguish competition” between the companies and lead to higher prices, lower quality and less film and television content. Octus’ coverage of WBD is HERE.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a 2023 district court ruling in the acetaminophen products liability multidistrict litigation, or MDL, excluding the plaintiffs’ experts’ testimony that found a causal link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, in children. Octus’ coverage of Johnson & Johnson is HERE.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court decision dismissing the Credit Suisse additional tier 1, or AT1, bondholders’ suit against the Swiss Confederation over the controversial write-down of their bonds in the bank’s 2023 emergency merger with UBS. The panel holds that Switzerland is immune from the suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, or FSIA, because the government’s role in facilitating the merger was not commercial in nature. Octus’ coverage of Credit Suisse Group is HERE.