Asset Sales

Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI’s) Asset Sales Committee announced that In re Verity Health System of California, Inc., Case No. 2:18-bk-20151-ER (C.D. Cal.), won its third annual “Asset Sale of the Year” award. The Asset Sales Committee said that it selected Verity as the top asset sale because the sale (1) was part of one of the largest hospital bankruptcies ever filed; (2) established important precedent regarding the transfer of Medicare and Medicaid Provider Agreements in a bankruptcy case and the limited scope of the California Attorney General’s powers over the sale of nonprofit health care assets in bankruptcy; and (3) saved important institutional hospitals, preserving thousands of jobs and ensuring that residents in these counties and communities continue to have access to critical health care. Honorable mentions from this year's submissions included asset sales in In re Southern Foods Group, LLC, et al. (S.D. Texas) and In re OGGUSA, Inc., f/k/a GenCanna Global USA, Inc. (E.D. Ky.).

Bankruptcy sales (via either § 363 or a chapter 11 reorganization plan) that closed between January 1 and December 31, 2020, were eligible for the contest, and at least one professional involved in the sale had to be a member of the Asset Sales Committee. Self-nominations were permitted. Submissions were received from January through April 5, 2021. Criteria for submissions included:

• Completion of a sale that was strategic and provided stakeholders with value;
• A display of excellence across the full spectrum of the sale process, from the initial targeting through pursuit, structuring and financing to complete a transaction;
• A sale that reflects a high level of professional expertise in the design of the transaction, and that tested creativity and skill in completing the transaction; or
• A sale of strategic or legal significance and impact (winning entries might focus on overcoming challenges to complete the sale, innovative financial engineering, and motivating agreement across multiple stakeholders)

Previous winners of the “Asset Sale of the Year” contest include:

• 2020: In re Agera Energy, LLC, et al., Case No. 19-23802 (S.D.N.Y.)
• 2019: In re Cobalt International Energy, Inc., et al. Case No.: 17-36709 (S.D. Texas)

For further information about the Asset Sales Committee and ABI’s other 16 specialty-based ABI committees, please click here: https://www.abi.org/members/membership/committees. 

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abi.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.