On December 17, 2021, Togut, Segal & Segal LLP filed special purpose vehicles JPA No. 111 Co., Ltd. and JPA No. 49 Co., Ltd., owners of two Airbus A350-941 aircraft, for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Debtors are direct, wholly-owned subsidiaries of JP Lease Products & Services Co. Ltd., a Japanese financial services company that combines borrowings from financial institutions and funds to manage valuable assets including aircraft, ships, containers for maritime transportation, and solar power generation.
The Debtors intend to use the tools provided by chapter 11 to pursue an orderly marketing and sale process for their state-of-the-art, next generation, wide body A350 aircraft in a manner that to obtains the best possible price and mitigates disruption to the Debtors and their ultimate lessee counterparty, Vietnam Airlines.
To that end, on December 29, 2021, the Debtors announced that they had entered into a stalking horse purchase agreement with affiliates of a global investment firm for both Airbus A350 aircraft. The stalking horse bid provides for payment in full of all of the Debtors’ existing secured lenders and an additional $5 million in cash to the estates. The bid will be subject to higher and better offers in connection with an auction and marketing process overseen by the SDNY Bankruptcy Court. The case is captioned In re JPA No. 111 Co., Ltd. and JPA No. 49 Co., Ltd., Case No. 21-12075 and has been assigned to Judge David S. Jones.
The Togut Firm has extensive experience with the airlines industry. The firm currently serves as co-counsel to LATAM Airlines Group S.A. and its affiliated debtors in their pending chapter 11 cases, and previously served as co-counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors of American Airlines in its chapter 11 cases, conflicts counsel to Frontier Airlines in its chapter 11 cases, and counsel to Midwest Airlines in its out of court restructuring. Mr. Ortiz is a frequent speaker on international insolvency issues and recently testified as an expert witness for Philippines Airlines in support of local recognition of its chapter 11 cases in the Philippines.
