"Pre-Packaged Bankruptcies" Panel at Legal Seminar

NOLHGA's 2010 Legal Seminar will feature a panel discussion of the latest trend in Chapter 11 commercial bankruptcies (reorganizations), the "pre-packaged" bankruptcy or "prepack." In prepacks, which have become popular as a means to lower costs and decrease court time involved in the traditional bankruptcy procedure, the companies negotiate a plan and secure agreements with creditors in advance of filing for bankruptcy. At the Legal Seminar, a team of lawyers will discuss the nature of pre-packaged bankruptcies, the advantages realized, and how aspects of this practice may be helpful to the guaranty system.

The panel will consist of Jeff Liebmann and Lee Attanasio, both of Sidley Austin, and Kevin Griffith of Baker & Daniels. Attanasio practices in the area of corporate reorganization and bankruptcy and has represented both debtors and creditors. She has experience in a wide variety of matters, including Chapter 11 proceedings and out-of-court restructurings. Liebmann has over 25 years of experience in the insurance corporate, restructuring, and insolvency areas. His clients include insurance companies, insurance holding companies, investment banks, financial advisers, insurance regulators, guaranty associations, insurance company receivers, and creditor committees in a broad array of insurance matters. Griffith, who has represented NOLHGA in several life insurance insolvencies, also represents insurance companies, agents, brokers, third-party administrators, and others in transactional, corporate, and regulatory matters. He has also represented the Indiana Insurance Commissioner as rehabilitator or liquidator of several insurance companies.

NOLHGA's 2010 Legal Seminar will be held on July 15-16 at New York's Marriott Marquis in Times Square (an MPC meeting will be held on July 13 and 14). Hotel reservations, online registration, and other meeting information can be found on the meeting Web page. For hotel reservations, the NOLHGA rate for meeting nights is $199/night plus tax; some additional nights are in the NOLHGA room block at a discounted rate of $259/night.

Financial Reform Bills Move to Conference Committee

The Senate passed its version of the regulatory restructuring bill on May 20, 2010, by a vote of 59-39. Financial services reform legislation now moves to a Conference Committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bills. Senate conferees will be seven Democrats and five Republicans. The Democrats include Senate Banking Committee Chairman Dodd (Connecticut), Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Lincoln (Arkansas), and Senators Johnson (South Dakota), Schumer (New York), Reed (Rhode Island), Harkin (Iowa), and Leahy (Vermont). The Republicans include Senate Banking Committee Ranking Republican Shelby (Alabama), Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Chambliss (Georgia), and Senators Crapo (Idaho), Gregg (New Hampshire), and Corker (Tennessee).

The House is expected to name conferees after the Memorial Day recess period. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Frank (Massachusetts) has recommended to Speaker Pelosi that there be eight Democrats and five Republicans named. Frank has recommended Congresswoman Maloney (New York) and Subcommittee Chairs Kanjorski (Pennsylvania), Gutierrez (Illinois), Waters (California), Watt (North Carolina), Meeks (New York), and Moore (Kansas). Rep. Frank is expected to Chair the Conference Committee, which he expects to begin on June 15 and complete its work in time to clear both houses and send to the President for signature by July 4. It is anticipated that the Conference Report will need 60 votes in the Senate to be adopted.

Following passage of the bill, the Senate adopted, by a vote of 87-4, a nonbinding resolution offered by Sen. Hutchison (Texas) instructing Senate Conferees to insist that the final conference report ensure that proprietary trading restrictions do not prevent insurance company affiliates of depository institutions from engaging in such trading as part of the ordinary business of insurance.

NOLHGA's Financial Services Modernization Committee continues to track activity on the bill and any developments in the House as well. Links to and summaries of the House and Senate bills, along with articles discussing regulatory reform, can be found in the Financial Regulatory Reform forum on the GA Message Boards, which are located in the Member Resources menu in the password-protected section of the NOLHGA Web site. Access to the boards is currently restricted to guaranty association administrators, who must register on the bulletin board homepage before they can view the various forums and post messages on them.