Craig Averch leads the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice's Los Angeles-based team. His experience includes workouts and restructurings of problem loans and investments, as well as insolvencies, throughout the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. He counsels clients in a wide range of industries, including transportation, real estate, retail, textile, oil and gas, energy, banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, high-tech and telecommunications. Mr. Averch regularly represents bondholders, bank groups, strategic and financial investors, miscellaneous creditor constituencies, sovereigns, and debtors in connection with bankruptcy and restructuring matters.

Mr. Averch also has a deep bench of litigation experience involving bankruptcy matters. Prior to joining White & Case, Mr. Averch acted as Senior Counsel for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, an international financial institution located in the United Kingdom. He has published numerous articles on bankruptcy and bankruptcy-related issues.

Recent and noteworthy restructurings and bankruptcy representations include:

Texas Rangers Baseball Partners where White & Case represented a group headed by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and Pittsburgh sports attorney and investor Charles Greenberg in its successful bid to purchase the Texas Rangers through the Texas Rangers Baseball Partners' bankruptcy proceedings. The Greenberg/Ryan group submitted the high bid in an auction for the Rangers prior to the Texas Rangers’ bankruptcy, but the secured lenders refused to consent to the sale. White & Case navigated the Greenberg/Ryan group through the bankruptcy process to consummate a sale of the Rangers to the Greenberg/Ryan group through an auction lasting more than 15 hours, with the winning bid topping US$591 million.

Natural Products Group, LLC and certain of its subsidiaries, including Arbonne International, LLC and Levlad, LLC, leaders in the manufacture and distribution of personal care products under the Arbonne and Nature’s Gate brands, in connection with their restructuring of approximately US$746 million in debt pursuant to a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. Natural Products Group and its domestic subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions on 27 January 2010, confirmed their plan of reorganization less than a month later, on 22 February 2010 and closed the deal on 5 March 2010. Through the restructuring, the company reduced its debt obligations by more than 80 percent.

WCI Communities’ successful emergence from Chapter 11 in late 2009, where White & Case served as lead counsel to the debtors. WCI was one of the largest home builders to seek Chapter 11 relief in the current downturn. This case involved the first settlement of Chinese drywall claimants by a large-scale homebuilder. In addition to confirming a plan of reorganization, WCI was able to secure DIP financing at a time when the credit markets were frozen. White & Case’s innovative strategies and credibility with the stakeholders allowed WCI to emerge as a deleveraged lifestyle community developer and land-holding company with the flexibility to continue its business in these unprecedented times. WCI was the 14th largest US Chapter 11 case filing in 2008.

Mirant Corporation, one of the largest producers, generators and marketers of electricity in the world. White & Case served as lead debtors' counsel in its successful Chapter 11 reorganization before the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas involving more than US$10 billion in debt—the largest bankruptcy filing in the United States in 2003 and one of the largest energy industry bankruptcies in US history.

Adelphia Communications Corporation, among the largest and the most complex ever filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, White & Case acted as counsel to the Ad Hoc Committee of Arahova Noteholders. Corporación Durango, the largest paper and wood products company in Mexico.

White & Case acted as lead restructuring counsel to the Company in its successful restructuring of nearly US$1 billion in debt pursuant to the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles in Mexico, and its simultaneous ancillary proceeding before the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Averch has also played prominent roles in numerous other large and complex cases, including National Gypsum Company (bond and trade); Texas American Bancshares (creditors' committee); Value-Added Communications (creditors’ committee); Metroline Communications (creditors’ committee); Consul Restaurant Corp. (creditors' committee); Sun World Industries (ad hoc bondholders); Southwest Petroservices (creditors' committee); Berryman Products (debtor); Mrs. Baird’s Bakery (debtor); Lone Star Steel (debtor); Greyhound Lines (debtor); Zales Corporation (debtor); Sunrise Energy (debtor); Allied Physicians Group (debtor); Lillie Ruben Fashions (debtor); AmeriTruck (debtor); Town of Westlake, Texas (debtor—Chapter 9); and CompuAdd (trustee).

Bars and Courts
California State Bar, 1994
Texas State Bar, 1984
US District Courts for the Northern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas
US District Court for the District of Maryland
US District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Education
JD, University of Texas School of Law, 1984
BBA, University of Texas, cum laude, 1981

Awards and Recognition
Recognized, California Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Chambers USA 2008 & 2009

Publications
Co-authored "When May a Bankruptcy Court Enjoin Proceedings Against a Non-Debtor?," Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law, January 2008
"Has The Disturbance To Claims Trading Been Quelled?," Bankruptcy Law 360, November 16, 2007
Contributing author to the Collier International Insolvency Guide (Lexis Publishing 2001) (Authored chapter on the Czech Republic)
"Lien Stripping Under Russian Bankruptcy Law: Is it Fair?," 105 Com. L.J. 77 (2000)
"Attorney Liability for the Client's Fraudulent Transfer," 7 J. Bankr. Law & Prac. 495 (1998)(with Blake Berryman)
"Equitable Subordination of Insider Loans Made to a Failed Business: Delivery of the Creditor Misconduct Test in Lifschultz Fast Freight," 7 J. Bankr. Law & Prac. 387 (1998)(with Blake Berryman)
"Protection of the 'Innocent' Initial Transferee of an Avoidable Transfer: An Application of the Plain Meaning Rule Requiring Use of Judicial Discretion," 11 Bankr. Dev. J. 595 (1995)
"The Treatment of Net Rents in Bankruptcy — Adequate Protection, Payment of Interest, Return of Collateral, or Reduction of Debt," 48 U. Miami L. Rev. 691 (March 1994)(with Blake Berryman and Michael Collins)
"Avoidance of Foreclosure Sales as Preferential Transfers: Another Serious Threat to Secured Creditors?" 24 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 985 (1993)(with Michael Collins)

Speaking Engagements
Los Angeles County Bar Association, Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Series, March 16, 2010. Panelist, "Contested Valuations: Trying the Appraisers."
HB Litigation Conference — Chinese Drywall Litigation and Insurance Coverage Update, Los Angeles, CA, November 11, 2009. Lead panelist, "Dealing with Chinese Drywall During an Insolvency."
International Energy Credit Association, 2009 Spring Education Conference, Dana Point, CA. Lead presenter, "Netting, Recoupment, Setoff and Such Matters – How to Make It Stick."
The Absolute Priority Rule in Bankruptcy Conference, January 23, 2008. Lead presenter, Lorman Educational Conference
Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Bankruptcy Restructuring Conference, Seattle, WA, June 9, 2006. Lead panelist, "Mirant – Valuation Battle, the Ultimate Resolution, and the Impacts on Stakeholders and the Organization."
Understanding the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, February 23, 2006. Lead presenter, "Implications of Sarbanes-Oxley on the Bankruptcy Practice" and "Chapter 15 – Dealing with Transnational and Cross-Border Insolvencies."

Languages
English

Citizenship
United States