Mayer Brown advised on the transaction named Energy & Services Turnaround of the Year by Global M&A Network at its 2014 Turnaround Atlas Awards, which honor excellence from the restructuring and turnaround communities worldwide. Winning transactions were selected in 50 restructuring turnaround awards categories, based on criteria such as number of creditors, jurisdiction, pre-post workout, sustainability, operational client HR metrics, timeliness, leadership and resourcefulness.

Mayer Brown acted as lead bankruptcy counsel to debtor ATP Oil & Gas on its sale of substantially all of its assets to Bennu Oil & Gas under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The approval of the sale was complicated by the fact that it was occurring under §363 of the Bankruptcy Code outside of a plan of reorganization, but following a multi-day trial, the court approved the transaction. The sale followed an extended marketing process of ATP’s offshore oil and gas assets, with Bennu emerging as the successful bidder.

The sale to Bennu, an entity newly formed to support the credit bid of a number of ATP’s DIP lenders, presented several significant legal and business issues in an extremely complex and large case requiring lawyers from multiple practice groups, offices and countries.

The Mayer Brown team was led by Restructuring, Bankruptcy & Insolvency partners Charles Kelley (Houston), Sean Scott (Chicago) and Rick Hyman (New York) and Corporate & Securities partner Bob Gray (Houston).

In addition, Global M&A Network selected Mayer Brown Restructuring, Bankruptcy & Insolvency partner Devi Shah (London) as one of the Top 100 Restructuring & Turnaround Professionals for 2014, a list that comprises the “most accomplished, influential, brilliant and innovative consultants, investment bankers and lawyers from the global restructuring, distressed M&A and insolvency communities,” according to the organization.