THE DEAL PIPELINE RELEASES 2008 BANKRUPTCY FINANCING AND ADVISER RANKINGS

Attendees of the Distressed Investing Conference, January 21 - 23, an event co-produced by the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and The Deal LLC, provided with a preview of the data

January 29, 2009--NEW YORK, N.Y.--The Deal Pipeline a premier news information and business development tool, today unveils an early look at year-end bankruptcy statistics in the scoreboard section of The Deal, the business and financial magazine.
 
The Deal Pipeline's year-end market trend data shows debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing in 2008, in terms of both the number and volume of commitments, is at the highest level it has been in five years. The $18.1 billion in DIP volume represented a 33% increase in comparison with the $13.6 billion registered in 2007. The number of deals, meanwhile, jumped from 41% to 328, from the 232 recorded in 2007.

"2008 proved to be a record year for bankruptcies, highlighted by the case of Lehman Brothers, the largest Chapter 11 ever," said Anthony Baldo, editor of newsletters and databases at The Deal LLC. "There were also 160 bankruptcy petitions filed last year in which the debtor listed assets of at least $100 million. There were only 50 such cases filed in 2007."

General Electric Co. led all lenders in commitment volume with $1.96 billion on 21 deals. Other top providers of debtor-in-possession loans in 2008 by dollar volume ($mill.) include: Wells Fargo & Co. with $1.533 billion and Barclays plc with $1.3 billion.

Wells Fargo & Co. led with the number of lender commitments with 38 deals. The other top lenders by number include: Bank of America with 24 and General Electric Co. with 21.

The $4.35 billion financing provided to automotive components manufacturer Delphi Corp. qualified as the largest DIP last year. The second biggest DIP was the $1.19 billion committed to real estate developer LandSource Communities Development LLC. Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. garnered the third largest loan, valued at $1.1 billion.

Since 2003, The Deal LLC's quarterly bankruptcy league tables, which also appear in The Deal magazine every quarter, have showcased the top firms and practitioners in active bankruptcy cases. Representing a snapshot of active bankruptcy cases and assignments, the following are such adviser rankings for 2008:

Topping the list of new cases gained on the largest bankruptcy cases filed are: No. 1) Richards, Layton & Finger PA with 28 cases, No. 2) Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP with 25 cases, No. 3) Kelley Drye & Warren LLP with 24 cases.

James Carr of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP was the top lawyer on the largest cases, having gained 78 assignments. Thomas Leanse of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP was in second place with 67 assignments and David Pollack of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP was next in with 57.

The investment banks that gained the most cases on the biggest bankruptcy petitions include Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin with 23. Lazard placed second with eight, while Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. and Moelis & Co. tied for third place with seven each.

The top investment bankers include Eric Siegert of Houlihan Lokey with six assignments, followed by colleague David Hilty and Larry Lattig of Mesirow Financial who tied for second with each gaining five.

Among crisis management firms, FTI Consulting Inc. was the frontrunner with 35 cases, followed by Alvarez & Marsal LLC with 16 and Capstone Advisory Group LLC with 10 cases. FTI professionals took the top three spots with new assignments. Bob Duffy gained nine, Michael Eisenband was next with eight and Samuel Star with seven.

All these rankings can also be found on Dealscape, The Deal's blog.

About The Deal LLC
The Deal LLC, (www.thedeal.com), is a diversified media company that is the authoritative voice of the deal economy. We serve the global deal community-corporate and financial dealmakers, advisers and institutional investors-by providing business and financial news and information that offers fresh insights on the deal economy, a set of interrelated activities, focused on dealmaking of all kinds, whose purpose is to generate corporate growth in a continually changing global market. We offer a comprehensive line of print and electronic products - The Deal Pipeline, The Deal, The Daily Deal and TheDeal.com - and live annual events including Private Capital Symposium, Distressed Investing Forum, Corporate Dealmaker Forum and M&A Outlook. The Deal LLC, a privately held company, is owned by private investment funds, including U.S. Equity Partners LP, sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. LP.