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Michael Wheat joined Ropes & Gray’s business restructuring practice group in 2023. Michael’s practice focuses on advising debtors, ad hoc groups, and committees in all aspects of corporate restructuring and bankruptcy. Prior to joining the firm, Michael worked as a financial restructuring and bankruptcy associate at a national law firm.
Experience
- Representing Hooters of America, LLC, an iconic casual dining and sports entertainment chain, and its affiliated debtors in their pending chapter 11 cases involving the restructuring of approximately $380 million of funded debt. Hooters’ chapter 11 cases are the first whole business securitization filings of their kind and are supported by $40 million of debtor-in-possession financing and a Restructuring Support Agreement with near unanimous support from its key stakeholders.
- Represented Aimbridge Hospitality in connection with a comprehensive out-of-court restructuring supported by 100% of the company’s lenders that successfully converted more than $1 billion of senior and junior debt into equity and infused the company with $100 million in new capital. Aimbridge is the leading third-party hotel management company, managing over 1,000 hotels globally and employing approximately 47,000 individuals.
- Represented SEKO Logistics, a global end-to-end logistics partner with nearly 50 years of logistics expertise and 150 offices in more than 60 countries, in its 2024 comprehensive out of court recapitalization, which was supported across SEKO’s capital structure by its key stakeholders and included significant new money investment.
- Represented TGI Friday’s Inc. and its affiliated debtors in their chapter 11 cases, including the sale of substantially all of their assets pursuant to section 363. TGI Friday’s and its affiliates own and operate a chain of casual dining restaurants throughout the country, offering classic American food and beverages.
- Represented Hearthside Foods and its affiliated debtors in their prearranged chapter 11 cases involving approximately $3.0 billion of funded debt. A leading contract manufacturer and producer of convenience foods, including baked, refrigerated, and frozen foods, sweet and salty snacks and nutrition bars, Hearthside serves as a full-service provider of food packaging services for many of the world’s premier brands and is the largest private bakery in the industry with a production network of 27 facilities powered by a skilled and dedicated workforce of approximately 12,000 employees. Hearthside’s prearranged chapter 11 plan eliminated approximately $2 billion of funded debt and provided $200 million of new money through an Equity Rights Offering and approximately $190 million of additional capital from a new asset backed loan facility. Hearthside emerged from chapter 11 with approximately $600 million of liquidity and rebranded as Maker’s Pride.