Tonkon Torp attorneys Albert N. Kennedy and Kenneth D. Stephens will be honored later this month for their work on the turnaround of Sunwest Management Inc., the Salem, Oregon-based company that was at one time the fourth largest senior housing operator in the United States.
Kennedy and Stephens will be recognized with the Transaction of the Year, Large Company Turnaround award, by the Turnaround Management Association at its annual convention on October 26 in San Diego. Also named for the award is Clyde Hamstreet and two colleagues at Hamstreet & Associates, a nationally-recognized business and turnaround consulting firm based in Portland, Ore.
Hamstreet engaged Tonkon Torp to handle the legal work for the Sunwest matter. Arguably the biggest and most complex bankruptcy case ever filed in Oregon, the Sunwest matter involved disentangling and reorganizing hundreds of legal entities to allow Sunwest to be treated as a single company protected from disorderly, piecemeal liquidation. The matter concluded with the $1.2 billion sale to Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, a deal that avoided potential loss of over $500 million in investments, provided secured lenders with 100 percent recovery and provided investors and unsecured creditors with 40 percent recovery and an additional 20 percent on the way. The SEC cited the case for its "extraordinary outcome.
Kennedy's practice focuses on bankruptcy, commercial law and creditor's rights. He is a member of Tonkon Torp's Bankruptcy Practice Group. Best Lawyers® just named Kennedy the Portland, Oregon Bankruptcy Litigation Lawyer of the Year for 2012. He also recently was named to the Best Lawyers 2012 list for Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor Rights. Last year, Kennedy was named 2011 Portland, Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year.
Stephens, a member of the firm's Corporate Finance and Financial Services Practice Groups, focuses his practice on corporate and securities matters. A founding partner of the Tonkon Torp firm, he has extensive experience in various forms of debt and equity financings. Stephens was just named to the Best Lawyers ® 2012 list for corporate, securities, banking and finance law. He was named Best Lawyer's ® Oregon Lawyer of the Year in Corporate Law for 2011.
