Mark assists clients in complex corporate and debt reorganizations and distressed mergers and acquisitions.
With more than 25 years of experience, Mark uses his comprehensive understanding of the Bankruptcy Code to assist all parties involved in the restructuring process in achieving their business objectives, including debtors, bank and nonbank lenders, trade creditors, vendors and strategic buyers of distressed assets.
In debtor representations Mark has distinguished himself as a practical problem-solver capable of addressing all facets relating to his clients’ challenges in a coordinated and strategic manner, including Chapter 11 reorganizations and out-of-court restructurings. Mark has a demonstrated ability in helping clients tackle complexity in order to restage their business operations. Most recently, he advised the owner of several casinos in multiple states in an out-of-court debt restructure; he ran the Chapter 11 sale of a chain of retail and specialty pharmacies; and he negotiated a Chapter 11 plan for a yellow pages delivery company.
Early in his career, Mark was perhaps best known for his representation of asset-based secured lenders and trade vendors with large exposures to finally distressed borrowers and business partners. His creditor-side work spans multiple industries, including healthcare, aviation, transportation, agriculture, retail and energy, and he has represented creditors with a variety of debt and equity interests.
Today, clients call on Mark for advice concerning distressed mergers and acquisitions, including asset sales under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. Mark assisted clients with numerous transactions, including the acquisition of the Strack & Van Til grocery chain in Indiana, the Dahl’s Foods grocery chain in Iowa, the Belle Foods grocery chain in Alabama, the acquisition of substantially all the assets of grocery distributor Affiliated Foods Southwest Inc. in Arkansas, and the purchase of six operating divisions in the Fleming Cos. bankruptcy in Delaware. He has also been actively assisting green energy companies in acquiring distressed projects, including operating assets of Abengoa, S.A. in the United States.
Mark began his career as the law clerk for the Hon. Frank W. Koger, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri, during the Food Barn Stores Inc. bankruptcy in Kansas City, Missouri. Building on that early grocery experience, Mark has focused a substantial portion of his practice during the past decade on food industry and agricultural Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. This has involved matters from “field to table” and everywhere along the supply chain, including issues under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) and the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act.
Mark is active in the local bar, having served as co-chair of the Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Committee for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Local Rules for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Missouri. Mark is board certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification.*
In the local community, Mark is on the Board of Trustees for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
*The American Board of Certification’s business bankruptcy certification program is accredited by the American Bar Association. Neither the Supreme Court of Missouri nor the Missouri Bar reviews or approves certifying organizations or special designations.