Sean A. O'Neal is a partner based in the New York office.
Mr. O'Neal’s practice focuses on corporate restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy and related litigation matters. Mr. O’Neal regularly assists corporate debtors, creditors, investors, financial counterparties and other interested parties in bankruptcy-related transactions and out-of-court workouts. He also works with investors in purchasing assets from, or making investments in, distressed companies. In addition, Mr. O'Neal advises financial institutions in the development and drafting of resolution plans (i.e., living wills) under the Dodd-Frank Act. He frequently advises clients on creditors’ rights, debt instruments, prepackaged bankruptcies, loan-to-own strategies, debtor-in-possession financing, exit financing, chapter 11 rights offerings, forbearance arrangements and other matters.
In addition, Mr. O'Neal represents tenants and tenant associations on a pro bono basis in landlord bankruptcy cases and serves on the boards of directors of Brooklyn Community and Housing Services and the Brooklyn Children's Museum.
Recent representations include:
- Counsel to SuperMedia in its prepackaged chapter 11 proceeding to effectuate its proposed merger with Dex One.
- Special counsel to Wilmington Trust, NA, as indenture trustee of $1 billion in unsecured notes, in the chapter 11 proceedings of Residential Capital LLC.
- Counsel to Colony Capital in successful litigation to dismiss the chapter 11 case of a mezzanine borrower in the JER/Jameson bankruptcy cases.
- Counsel to Goldman Sachs and other derivatives creditors in the filing of a competing plan and settlement of derivatives claims and plan issues in the Lehman Brothers chapter 11 cases (named as IFLR's Restructuring Deal of the Year).
- Counsel to the Truvo Group, a European directories company, in its completed global restructuring of €1.4 billion in bank, bond and PIK debt (named as the International Finance Review's 2012 EMEA Restructuring of the Year).
- Counsel to Goldman Sachs as lead investor in the $1.25 billion rights offering of Visteon Corp.
- Counsel to Istithmar Retail, as existing equity holder and rights offering back stop provider, in the chapter 11 proceedings of Loehmann's.
- Counsel to Apex Silver Mines Limited (now Golden Minerals Company) in its successful pre-negotiated chapter 11 restructuring of more than $700 million in debt.
- Counsel to a consortium of lenders in the $1.5 billion financing of Americas Mining Corporation to fund ASARCO LLC’s exit from chapter 11 bankruptcy (named "Latin America Loan of the Year" by International Financing Review).
- Counsel to a Mittal family trust in the acquisition of substantially all of the global assets of Escada in various insolvency proceedings.
- Counsel to various holders of LBHI-issued program securities in Lehman's chapter 11 proceedings.
- Counsel to various derivative counterparties and market makers in the chapter 11 bankruptcy of CIT Group.
- Counsel to Hellman & Friedman in connection with its stalking horse bid, with Bain Capital, to acquire certain assets of Neuberger Berman and the Investment Management Division of Lehman Brothers.
- Counsel to UBS Securities LLC as plan investor in Delphi’s chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- Counsel to Goldman Sachs in connection with its acquisition of Litton Loan Servicing and the related out-of-court restructuring of Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization (C-BASS).
- Counsel to several debtors, including Covanta Energy Corporation and Bridge Information Systems, in their successful chapter 11 cases.
Mr. O'Neal is recognized as a leading restructuring and insolvency lawyer by
Chambers USA, Legal 500 and
IFLR.
Mr. O'Neal writes regularly on bankruptcy issues, including articles entitled "Claim Disabilities Rear Their Ugly Head in KB Toys," in the
New York Law Journal (June 25, 2012) and "Involuntary Debt Reinstatement as an Alternative to Exit Financing," in
The National Law Journal (February 15, 2010). He is a co-author of "International Insolvency and Bankruptcy" in PLI's
International Corporate Practice: A Practitioner's Guide to Global Success (May 2010).
Mr. O'Neal joined the firm in 2000 and became a partner in 2009. He received a J.D. degree,
magna cum laude, in 2000 from Tulane University School of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief of the
Tulane Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Centenary College of Louisiana in 1991.
Mr. O'Neal is a member of the Bar in New York and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York.