Private Leasing Company

Phoenix serves as Chief Restructuring Officer to a privately-held leasing company during its liquidation.

The Client

Phoenix’s client was a Privately-held Leasing Company with a portfolio of approximately $100 million. The Company specialized in providing lease financing to a wide variety of companies ranging from small business to upper middle market companies. Transactions handled by the Company covered a myriad of assets including medical, transportation, production, and restaurant equipment. In addition to having its own direct sales force that generated lease volume, it served a significant broker network throughout the country.

The Challenge

Due to losses arising from defaulted leases and the recessionary economic climate, our client was experiencing serious cash flow problems. Phoenix was retained to advise the Company on possible restructuring alternatives.

The Solution

At the onset of the engagement, Phoenix discovered material improprieties relating to the Company’s bank financing that were carried out by two of the Company’s officers. With support of the board, these issues were disclosed to the individual banks impacted by the transactions which were the only possible way to secure their continued support of the Company. However, the disclosure led to the termination of the officers involved and Phoenix being appointed as Chief Restructuring Officer for the Company. As CRO, Phoenix was charged with managing the day to day operations, controlling cash, as well as working with the creditors to identify the extent of their exposures and the development of a plan to maximize recovery values.

Following negotiations with a party that expressed interest in serving as a stalking horse in a bankruptcy 363 sale transaction, it was determined that insufficient enterprise and collateral value existed to fund a filing and generate a partial recovery for the creditors. As such, Phoenix staged the Company for an orderly liquidation in order to maximize the realization of the leases that served as collateral for the lenders.

Phoenix Turnaround

Primary Industry

  • Financial

Secondary Industry

  • Leasing / Financial Services

    Primary Services

  • Crisis ManagementStrategic AdvisoryBankruptcy AdvisoryLiquidation / Business Wind Down