Washington, D.C., partner Don Workman was quoted in the September 17, 2009, Wall Street Journal article, "Brazilian Giant JBS Agrees to Buy Pilgrim's Pride."
According to the article, Brazilian beef giant JBS SA agreed to pay $800 million to buy a majority stake in Texas chicken company Pilgrim's Pride Corp. The Pilgrim's deal, if approved, would pull the second-largest chicken processor in the United States out of bankruptcy court. The plan would pay off all creditors and current Pilgrim's shareholders would get a 36% stake, valued at about $450 million, in the new company. Such recoveries have been almost unheard of in today's economic climate, in which lenders have absorbed big losses on credit they laid on companies during the leveraged buyout boom. "In almost all of the [bankruptcies] getting filed, the secured creditors are not going to get paid in full. It's very extraordinary for the junior creditors to receive anything," said Workman.