Tobias Keller

(The following information was supplied by the firm)

Partner

Tobias Keller counsels clients in a variety of industries dealing with financial distress, advising on dislocations arising from excessive leverage, uncontrolled litigation, or unanticipated employee or vendor problems, and the governance questions that arise in connection with those challenges.

Mr. Keller’s recent representations with members of the KBK team are varied.

• Several include several overleveraged, venture-backed technology companies including: a utility-scale solar power developer with over $100 million in funded debt that wound down its operation over an 18-month period; a hardware company in which over $100 million had been invested negotiated a debt for equity swap that substantially deleveraged the company; a software company (also in which over $100 million had been invested) coordinated a “friendly foreclosure” with its lender, keeping most of the team employed and preserving a promising technology; a publicly-traded biotechnology company negotiated down its liabilities and exited the market through a reverse merger; and an e-commerce company used a Delaware bankruptcy to divest one add-on business and sell the core business after completing an auction process led by a leading investment banking firm.

• Many involve out-of-court restructuring and/or bankruptcy preparation projects for nontechnology companies, including a “household name” retailer in its preparations for chapter 11 cases, a professional services firm in renegotiating its first-lien and mezzanine debt; and a nutritional supplement manufacturer in default of its asset-based loan facility and overextended on trade debt.

• We have taken on occasional investor representations, including a venture fund that financed and managed a medical device company in its portfolio through a chapter 11 case to address uncontrolled litigation brought by a competitor; and another venture fund that used an involuntary bankruptcy case to assure accountability in a portfolio’s dissolution process.

• We provide independent director and independent board committee representations for companies going through restructuring, often to help address concerns involving directors and/or management with conflicting loyalties.

• Two of our representations are contingency matters, one representing a claimant with a significant claim against an entity with assets that appeared be fully mortgaged, and one representing a client that had set aside full exposure for a disputed liability. In each, KBK’s compensation is substantially linked to obtaining favorable outcomes for these clients.

Mr. Keller regularly lectures for organizations on governance, distressed mergers and acquisitions, and various restructuring topics. He is a fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and has been recognized as a leading lawyer in publications including Chambers USA.

• Harvard College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1985)

• Stanford Law School (J.D., 1990)

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