Peter Partee Sr., a corporate restructuring partner at Hunton & Williams in New York, is advising the New York–based Atari subsidiary on its Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Ken Coleman, head of the U.S. restructuring group at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy in New York, is advising Atari's French parent with respect to the company's U.S. liabilities and the restructuring of its North American subsidiaries.
According to a list of Atari's 30 largest unsecured creditors, the company owes $127,505 to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and $102,915 to Dorsey & Whitney for legal services. Kristen Keller has been Atari's general counsel since 2003. Alan Behr, a partner at Phillips Nizer in New York, served as Atari's top in-house lawyer until 2001, when the company and parent Hasbro were sold to French software company Infogrames Entertainment, which eventually adopted the Atari name.
Former Sullivan & Cromwell associate Franck Dangeard has served as independent chairman of Atari's board since 2009, while Eugene Davis, a former partner at now-defunct Arter & Hadden, is a representative on the company's board from London-based asset manager BlueBay. Davis joined Atari in 2007 when the company appointed several restructuring and turnaround specialists to its board. While Atari has had some success in recent years repurposing its older games, the Los Angeles Times reports that the company remains mired in debt.
Education Holdings 1 Inc.
Framingham, Massachusetts-based Education Holdings 1 Inc., the former parent of The Princeton Review's test preparation business, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Monday. The debtor, which lists assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, sold The Princeton Review name and brand last year to Boston-based private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners for $33 million in cash.
Gregg Galardi, cochair of the restructuring practice at DLA Piper, is advising Education Holdings along with restructuring partners Stuart Brown and Matthew Murphy. DLA has not yet filed billing statements with the bankruptcy court. (Brown serves as managing partner of DLA's Wilmington office, while Galardi joined the firm in 2011 from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.)
According to a list of the debtor's 15 largest unsecured creditors, Education Holdings owes $65,000 to Goodwin Procter and $6,376 to Skadden. Kyle Bettigole served as general counsel for The Princeton Review prior to its sale to Charlesbank. Neal Winneg preceded Bettigole as the test provider's top in-house lawyer. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with the university of the same name.
Penson Worldwide
After a long decline, Penson Worldwide, once a major clearer of securities for U.S. brokerages, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware on January 11. Plano, Texas–based Penson, which lists assets and debts of between $100 million to $500 million, eventually plans to liquidate its assets in bankruptcy.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison corporate reorganization partner Andrew Rosenberg is leading a team from the firm serving as lead bankruptcy counsel to Penson. Pauline Morgan, chair of the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring section at Delaware's Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, is serving as local counsel to the debtor. Neither firm has yet filed billing statements with the bankruptcy court.
Andrew Koslow resigned as general counsel of Penson last August and the company announced that it had no plans to fill the role. Koslow, who served as Penson's top in-house lawyer for a decade, is now chief administrative officer at financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, according to a profile on LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals.
According to a list of Penson's 30 largest unsecured creditors, the debtor owes $127,790 to Drinker Biddle & Reath for legal services.
