Young Broadcasting Chapter 11 is a winner

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Who knew there was an award for best bankruptcy? OK, there’s probably an award for everything. There’s also a trade association and annual convention, with awards ceremony, for the firms which handle bankruptcy reorganizations.


LM+Co (which you may remember as Loughlin Meghji + Company) proudly announced that the firm has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Turnaround of the Year Award by the Turnaround Management Association, for its work on the Young Broadcasting Inc. (YBI) restructuring. The award – in the mid-size company category – is the second Turnaround of the Year Award the firm has received in the last six years.
 
The LM+Co professional team – led by Kevin Shea, managing director – earned the award for their work advising the Senior Lenders of YBI and for Shea’s and his team’s work as Chief Restructuring Officer of YBI.  Shea was elected to the YBI Board when he was chosen to serve as CRO and he remains a director of YBI today.
 
Young Broadcasting operates television stations in 10 markets in the United States. In January 2009, YBI failed to pay debt service on its public bonds and LM+Co was retained as financial advisor to the Secured Lenders. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2009, with total liabilities of $825 million.
 
LM+Co was retained by the Senior Lenders to assist in their review and evaluation of the company’s business plans – including budgets, cash flow, near-term liquidity requirements, cost reductions, and financial forecasts – as well as for advisory services in developing the new capital structure of Young.
 
After the Senior Lenders took ownership of Young, the new Board retained LM+Co as the Chief Restructuring Officer to commence the turnaround of the business. YBI successfully emerged from bankruptcy on June 25, 2010.
 
“The TMA award is a recognition of what teamwork can accomplish. The LM professionals on the Young Broadcasting engagement worked diligently with new ownership and management to meet the many challenges of this complex case. The team was able to restore operational soundness to a troubled organization,” said Jim Loughlin, founder of LM+Co. “We are pleased and honored to receive this award – our second  – and we thank the TMA for this honor.”
 
In addition to Mr. Shea, Martin Young, Aaron Kibbey and Helana Robbins were the core team members from LM+Co on the YBI engagement. Legal counsel was provided by a team from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by Gregory Bray and Alexander Kaye. Accounting services were provided by Robert Conklin and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.   
 
The award was presented at the 2011 TMA Annual Convention in San Diego.