Corporate Trust & Default

Bryant Miller Olive is one of the few public finance firms with a practice area dedicated solely to the representation of corporate trustees. Bryant Miller Olive’s Corporate Trust lawyers are experienced in representing corporate trust clients in their capacities as indenture trustees, paying agents, registrars, escrow agents, and custodians on the broad range of issues that confront corporate trustees. Our Corporate Trust attorneys represent corporate trust clients on new, existing and troubled (or defaulted) matters.  Our trustee-clients include both national and regional banks and trust companies.

The services that our Corporate Trust lawyers routinely provide include:

• Giving timely comments on documents for new transactions to minimize legal risks to the trustee or escrow agent (consistent with best practices) and to ensure that the account can be effectively administered
• Drafting agreements, certificates or other closing documents necessary to protect our corporate trust client’s position in a new transaction
• Attending, as requested by our corporate trust client, working group calls, meetings and closings on new transactions
• Providing legal advice on issues involving existing bond debt, including modifications of existing documents, change in use of projects, sale or transfer of projects, release or addition of collateral, sale or transfer of bondholders’ interests, continuation of security interests, defeasance of bonds, termination of indentures, and resignation or appointment of successor trustees
• Assisting our corporate trustee clients to identify other consulting expertise to inform and assist our corporate trustee clients in reacting quickly and effectively to the first indications of a potential default
• Providing seasoned and practical representation throughout the various stages of default administration, from the exploratory stage, to the pursuit-of-remedies stage (including foreclosure, receivership or bankruptcy proceedings), and ultimately to the disposition-of-collateral stage
• Providing the disclosure and tax expertise necessary to support corporate trust clients who are administering existing or defaulted accounts

With the radical change over the past few months in the global financial landscape, the number of new bond issues requiring corporate trustees has dropped precipitously and corporate trustees have had to focus their energies on their existing issues, on modifications, failed remarketings, failed tenders, conversion into bank bonds, covenant defaults, and payment defaults. Bryant Miller Olive’s Corporate Trust group has been on the forefront of public financing law firms in advising corporate trust clients on ways to most effectively deal with these issues in a manner that maximizes the protections available to the trustee. In the current financial crisis and in the better times to follow, Bryant Miller Olive remains committed to representing corporate trustees with experienced, responsive and timely legal advice.