Elisha Graff is a Co-Head of the Liability Management and Special Situations group and a Restructuring Partner in the Capital Structure Solutions Practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. He regularly represents clients in connection with out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 cases. His work has focused primarily on advising companies in connection with their in-court or out-of-court restructurings, equity sponsors in connection with the restructuring of their portfolio companies, and financial institutions with their loans to distressed companies.
Elisha has regularly represented JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and other financial institutions as administrative agent for secured lending syndicates in connection with in-court and out-of-court restructurings. He is also regularly called upon to assist the Firm’s private equity clients (including First Reserve, Blackstone, KKR, Stonepeak, KSL Partners, EQT and Apax and other sponsor clients) with their portfolio companies that are in distress or in potential need of a restructuring, plan sponsors, and acquirers of distressed companies, as well as financial advisors with retention matters.
Recently, Elisha’s work has included acting as counsel to:
- Zynex, a medical device manufacturer, in its Chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of Texas.
- WW International, Inc., a global leader in weight management, in connection with its debt restructuring through a prepackaged chapter 11 plan of reorganization.
- JPMorgan in its capacity as prepetition superpriority agent, prepetition ABL agent, DIP agent, and lender in connection with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Axip Energy Services, and its affiliated debtors.
- JPMorgan, in its capacity as administrative agent under a pre-petition ABL facility and exit ABL financing provider, in connection with the Chapter 11 case of Claire’s Holdings.
- JPMorgan, in its capacity as administrative agent under a pre-petition ABL facility and exit ABL financing provider, in connection with the Chapter 11 case of Party City.
- JPMorgan, in its capacity as administrative agent under a pre-petition ABL facility and exit ABL financing provider, in connection with the Chapter 11 case of Conn’s, Inc.
- Ellucian, a portfolio company of funds managed by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners, in connection with Ellucian’s entry into an agreement to serve as the “stalking horse” bidder to acquire Anthology’s Student Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning business as part of Anthology’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
- Eating Recovery Center, an Apax portfolio company, in its out-of-court restructuring.
- Stonepeak in connection with the financing related to its C$1.6 billion recapitalization of Xplore.
- MatlinPatterson funds, in connection with their Chapter 11 case pursuant to which MatlinPatterson was able to consolidate several pending international litigations in the SDNY bankruptcy court, achieve consensual resolution of such litigations through court-supervised mediation, and confirm a consensual plan of liquidation, paving the way for dissolution of the debtor entities and making distributions to the entities’ stakeholders.
Elisha has also represented numerous Firm clients in connection with their in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including G-III Apparel Group (out-of-court restructuring of its retail lease portfolio), TNT Crane & Rigging (financial restructuring through a prepacked Chapter 11 case), Dixie Electric (financial restructuring through a prepackaged Chapter 11 case), J.G. Wentworth (financial restructuring through a prepackaged Chapter 11 case) and Templar Energy (comprehensive out-of-court restructuring).
In addition, Elisha has recently represented Blackstone, Apax Partners, KKR, First Reserve, Stonepeak and other private equity clients in connection with restructurings, refinancings and liability management transactions in connection with several of their respective portfolio companies.
Elisha has also acted as counsel to the Lenders in several large Chapter 11 cases, including Nautical Solutions, Yak Access, Sable Permian Resources, Superior Energy, Halcon, Swift Energy, EV Properties, The Nordam Group, Logan Roadhouse, Inc., Oriental Trading Company; Jefferson County, Alabama (Chapter 9); Station Casinos, Inc.; Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation; Idearc Inc.; NextMedia Group, Inc.; Lear Corporation; Adelphia Communications Corp.; Federal-Mogul Corporation; GT Brands, LLC; RCN Corporation; Galey & Lord, Inc.; GenTek, Inc.; and Recoton Corporation.
He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yeshiva University in 1997 and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2000.