A Houston headquartered boutique retailer filed for bankruptcy last week in Delaware and chose no Texas law firms to handle its sale.
London-based Seadrill Partners, by contrast, filed for relief under Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas and has hired Kirkland & Ellis partner Brian Schartz and Jackson Walker partner Matt Cavenaugh – both based in Houston – to lead the bankruptcy, which was assigned to Chief Bankruptcy Judge David Jones.
The offshore rig operator and 28 of its affiliates filed Dec. 1, citing $3.1 billion in debt and $4.6 billion in assets.
Court filings show that Christopher M. Odell, a partner at Arnold & Porter Kay Scholer in Houston, is advising one lenders’ group. Other documents show that Cole Schotz partners Michael D. Warner and Benjamin L. Wallen of Fort Worth, as well as Milbank lawyers in New York, are representing a group of ad hoc lenders.
Seadrill Partners is an affiliate of Seadrill Ltd., which filed for bankruptcy restructuring in 2017. Kirkland and Jackson Walker also represented the debtor in that matter.
Meanwhile, Houston-headquartered Francesca’s Holdings, a specialty fashion retailer, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 3 in Delaware. The Texas company hired New York law firm O’Melveny & Myers and Delaware firm Richards Layton & Finger as its lead legal advisors and FTI Consulting as its financial advisors.
In court documents, Francesca’s states that it plans to sell off its assets in bankruptcy court to meet its debt obligations.