Peter A. Candel

Equinox Group — Representation of Equinox Group, the owner of a high-growth collective of influential luxury lifestyle brands, including Equinox Fitness Clubs, SoulCycle, Equinox Hotels and Blink Fitness, in a comprehensive refinancing of its capital structure that enhanced liquidity and resulted in significant maturity extensions across its capital structure. The proceeds of the $1.8 billion financing, which was led by Sixth Street and Silver Lake, in addition to a consortium of other private credit funds, were used to refinance the existing first lien, second lien and revolving credit facilities of the Equinox clubs and fund working capital across the Equinox Group brands.

Lincoln Power, L.L.C. — Representation of Investec Bank plc, as administrative agent under a senior secured credit agreement, in negotiating the successful Chapter 11 purchase of substantially all of Lincoln Power, L.L.C.’s assets by Avenue Capital Group in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The purchase included Lincoln’s two gas-fired, power-generation facilities in Illinois that can produce up to 810 MW of energy.

WeWork Inc. — Representation of WeWork Inc. (NYSE: WE), a global flexible space provider, in connection with a comprehensive restructuring of its capital structure through a series of transactions with an ad hoc group of noteholders representing more than 60% of the Company’s public notes, a third-party investor, and affiliates of SoftBank Group Corp., which were implemented through offers to exchange $1.2 billion of WeWork’s existing public unsecured notes and $1.65 billion of WeWork’s unsecured notes held by SoftBank for new debt and equity securities, and a concurrent primary offering of $500 million of newly issued first lien notes. Collectively, the transactions reduced WeWork’s net debt by approximately $1.5 billion and extended a significant maturity wall from 2025 to 2027.

Cineworld Group plc — Representation of Cineworld Group plc and 104 of its debtor affiliates in their Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, Cineworld, the parent company of Regal Entertainment Group, is the second-largest cinema chain in the world, operating over 9,100 screens at nearly 750 cinemas in 10 countries worldwide. Cineworld commenced its Chapter 11 cases with approximately $5.1 billion in funded debt and commitments from an ad hoc group of prepetition lenders to provide nearly $2 billion in debtor-in-possession financing.

Envision Healthcare Corporation — Representation of Envision Healthcare Corporation, a leading provider of physician staffing services and operator of ambulatory surgical centers, in first-of-their kind liability management transactions. The transactions injected $1.1 billion of new money to Envision’s balance sheet and de-leveraged more than $1.9 billion of secured and unsecured debt obligations.

Just Energy Group Inc. — Representation of Just Energy Group Inc., a Mississauga, Ontario-based leading retail consumer company specializing in electricity and natural gas commodities, energy efficiency solutions, and renewable energy options, in its Chapter 15 proceedings in the United States to recognize proceedings commenced in Canada under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Just Energy Group Inc. was severely adversely impacted by the unprecedented winter storm in Texas in February 2021. The insolvency proceedings successfully culminated in a Canadian-court approved and United States-court recognized sale transaction that preserved operations, hundreds of jobs, critical regulatory approvals, and key commodity supplier relationships. 

Premiere Global Services, Inc. — Representation of Premiere Global Services, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (PGi) in connection with an out-of-court restructuring by which PGi’s first lien lenders consensually foreclosed upon and sold the equity of Premiere Global Services, Inc. to a third-party buyer. The transaction resulted in mutual releases between the Company’s’ first lien lenders and the Company and related parties and an incremental financing commitment from the Company’s first lien lenders. 

Gulfport Energy Corporation — Representation of Gulfport Energy Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries in their prearranged Chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Gulfport is an independent returns-oriented, gas-weighted exploration and development company and one of the largest producers of natural gas in the contiguous United States, with significant acreage positions in Ohio and Oklahoma. The restructuring eliminated more than $1.2 billion of funded debt obligations, secured $50 million of new capital through a backstopped rights offering and $580 million in new exit financing, and right-sized Gulfport’s go-forward midstream contract obligations, positioning Gulfport as a viable and strengthened enterprise post-emergence.

RGN-Group Holdings, LLC — Representation of RGN-Group Holdings, LLC, and approximately 100 other debtor affiliates (Regus) in their Chapter 11 cases filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Regus offers a network of on-demand office and co-working spaces, and ancillary service and support, to a variety of clients across a host of industries in over 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada.

Frontier Communications Corporation — Representation of Frontier Communications Corporation and its 103 debtor subsidiaries in their prearranged Chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. With over $17.5 billion in outstanding funded debt, Frontier’s Chapter 11 cases were among the largest filed in 2020. Frontier, together with its subsidiaries, have over 4 million customers and 18,000 employees across 29 states. The company’s prearranged plan, which was confirmed in approximately four months, effected a balance sheet restructuring that reduced the company’s outstanding funded debt by over $10 billion, carried broad stakeholder support, and unimpaired all general unsecured creditors.

Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, 2019

Summer Associate, Golden Flag International Law Firm LLP, 2018

Summer Associate, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, 2017

Commercial Banking Financial Analyst, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2014–2016

Represented a pro bono client in asserting wrongful removal from a public housing waitlist against a local housing authority, culminating in a favorable settlement that ultimately reinstated the client’s position at the top of the waitlist.