Mr. Wise is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Business Restructuring and Reorganization, and Global Finance Practice Groups.
Mr. Wise represents lender and bondholder groups, financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity funds and corporate borrowers in complex restructuring and lending transactions. He has significant experience in complex special situations financing transactions, involving financial institutions and corporate borrowers in second lien and subordinated financings, mezzanine structures, debtor-in-possession financings, chapter 11 exit financings, recapitalizations, restructurings, work-outs and distressed debt purchases and sales. Mr. Wise also leads agent bank representations and restructurings, including cross-border and multi-currency transactions, real estate financings, asset-based financings, leveraged acquisition financings and bank and bond/bridge CMBS financings. Representative clients include Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, Wilmington Trust Company, Credit Suisse, Harbinger Capital Partners, Garrison Investment Group, Ore Hill Partners, Farallon Capital Partners, GSO Capital Management and BlueMountain Capital.
In addition to numerous finance and restructuring transactions in the steel, automotive, chemical, energy, transportation, telecommunications and paper and forest products sectors, recent representative restructuring transactions include representing lenders in connection with the Chapter 11 proceedings of Church Street Health Management, representing holdco lenders in the recent out-of-court restructuring of Travelport Limited, representing lenders providing financing (including debtor-in-possession financing) to Solyndra, representing lenders providing groundbreaking debtor-in-possession financing for General Growth Properties, representing lenders in the debtor-in-possession financings of Lyondell-Basell, Smurfit-Stone Container and Chemtura Corporation, representing exit lenders to Holley Performance Products, Inc., representing bondholders in connection with the restructuring of the debt and equity of Pegasus Solutions, Inc., and representing lenders in the restructuring of the debt of Education Media Publishing Group, Real Mex Restaurants, Inc. and in connection with the repurchase of debt of AMC.
Mr. Wise has been involved in numerous other past restructurings, including Ainsworth Lumber Ltd., Enron Corporation, National Steel Corporation, Geneva Steel, Alfa, S.A. de C.V.’s Mexican steel subsidiaries, Hylsa, S.A. de C.V. and Hylsamex, S.A. de C.V., Galey & Lord and Performance Transportation Systems, Inc.
Mr. Wise is an expert in intercreditor relationships, and is frequently asked to advise in financial transactions involving complex intercreditor issues and the development of forms. Mr. Wise also regularly represents debt investors in connection with evaluating all aspects of the capital structure of enterprises with a view towards strategic restructuring options and investor risks.
Mr. Wise is the author of "Restructuring Issues Concerning Real Estate Projects" published in the March 10, 2011 issue of BNA's Bankruptcy Law Reporter, "Reorganization Securities And Second-Lien Structures," published by Law360 at www.law360.com on November 9, 2010, "X Clauses: Meaning and Mutations," published on November 8, 2010 by Bloomberg Law Reports - Bankruptcy Law, “Tanking Bond Prices Spell Opportunity for Issuers,” The National Law Journal, Bankruptcy Law Section, February 16, 2009. “Second Lien Loans: A Market Matures,” The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, April 2007, “Covenants: A Brief Guide to Survival,” The Banking Law Journal, June 2007, and “Crises in Auto Industry Raises Finance Issues,” The National Law Journal, Bankruptcy Law Section, July 11, 2005.
Mr. Wise is a 1995 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Wise is a member of the bars of New York and Illinois and is admitted to practice in the federal courts in the Southern District of New York.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Wise practiced with Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Recent Speaking Engagements
Panel Speaker on “The Automaker Bankruptcies: What Happened to Bondholders once the Government Stepped In? Could Municipal Bondholders Suffer a Similar Fate?,” The National Federation of Municipal Analysts Advanced Seminar on Bankruptcy and Workouts, October 15, 2009.