The M&A Advisor has recognized two Sidley deals at its 19th Annual Turnaround Awards. Each year, the Turnaround Awards honor “trailblazers in the fields of distressed investing and restructuring.”
The restructuring of Rite Aid Corporation was named the winning matter in the “Healthcare/Life Sciences Deal of the Year (Over $1B)” category.
The cross-office Sidley team, led by Dennis Twomey and Elizabeth Tabas Carson, represented Rite Aid’s largest pharmaceutical product supplier, McKesson Corp., in the Rite Aid bankruptcy. At the outset of the bankruptcy case, the Sidley team successfully negotiated a deal that significantly reduced McKesson’s credit exposure and paved the way for Rite Aid to continue receiving medicines and other pharmaceutical products from McKesson, which Rite Aid could then sell in its more than 2,000 retail locations. Sidley subsequently guided McKesson through a complex, multi-party mediation process, pursuant to which McKesson reached a settlement of its more than US$700 million administrative expense claim and an agreement on terms for a new supply agreement with Reorganized Rite Aid that would become effective upon Rite Aid’s emergence from bankruptcy. This deal with McKesson served as a cornerstone for Rite Aid’s reorganization because Rite Aid receives over 90% of its pharmaceutical products from McKesson and could not reorganize without a go-forward supply arrangement with McKesson. Rite Aid successfully emerged from bankruptcy on August 30, 2024.
Sidley relied on its extensive restructuring, financing, bankruptcy, and litigation experience in leading the McKesson team through the various litigation, mediation, and negotiation phases of Rite Aid’s bankruptcy, ultimately resulting in a successful outcome for McKesson and reorganization for Rite Aid.
The sale of ICON Aircraft, Inc. (ICON) assets to an affiliate of Dürkopp Adler GmbH was recognized in the “Industrials Deal of the Year (Under $1B)” category.
The Sidley team, led by Sam Newman, represented ICON, a California-based manufacturer of light-sport aircraft, in its filing for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware on April 4, 2024, citing more than US$170 million in debt.
On June 18, 2024, a Sidley team successfully secured approval of the sale of ICON Aircraft to SG Investment America from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, with the transaction closing on June 26, 2024.
On December 5, 2024, ICON secured confirmation of its Chapter 11 plan.
