30 October 2008
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hospitality Lawyer: Workouts, receiverships, deeds in lieu and bankruptcies with distressed hotel loans: Do you know the 8 Dos and Don’ts of handling Troubled Hotel Loans?
As CMBS special servicers and other lenders’ special assets workouts teams start to receive a new wave of troubled loans in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis that erupted in September 2008, it is a great time to “get back to fundamentals” and review the Dos and Don’ts of Troubled Hotel Loans. So here they are in case you want to test your memory or get started on a new run . . .
The 8 Dos and Don’t for working with troubled hotel loans
- Prevention.
Prevention is the first step in a well planned approach to troubled loans. Proper underwriting, documentation and provisions for access to information may help a lender facing a troubled loan. In the event the loan does get into trouble, the lender will be in a stronger position to protect its interests. Prevention includes careful underwriting of the collateral and the borrower. In underwriting the borrower, the lender should obviously look to the usual credit report and financial statements, but should often go beyond them to get a better feel for the borrower’s reputation, character, fortitude, expertise, consistency and creativity. The lender should ask: Has this borrower built or managed this kind of project before? Are the market and feasibility studies realistic? Are the projections consistent with these factors and do they provide adequately for a “worst case scenario”?
Once the credit decision has been made, the transaction should be fully and carefully documented with prevention in mind. Use the checklist approach to be sure nothing is overlooked. (See for example, JMBM’s HIT list, the acronym for Hospitality Investment Task list). Be sure all desired title and liability insurance is in place, with endorsements to cover the lender’s interests. Particularly with construction loans, negotiate all necessary controls for the project – to cover both the ordinary course of building and the possibility of default. A lender will never have a better opportunity to protect its interests than the period before it has disbursed the loan proceeds.
- Monitoring and Early Warning. Information control is paramount. A lender must carefully monitor its loans until they are paid off. Early warning systems should be established to alert the lender to problems with the borrower, the collateral, or the project’s feasibility. Is the construction or marketing of the project being delayed? Is the property being wasted? Are materials disappearing from the job site? Have the demographics and economics of the market changed adversely? If trouble signs appear, the special asset group should be consulted at an early stage, even if the project stays in the hands of the loan servicing department.
Many institutions have been “bitten” by their good faith efforts in a workout situation. The pre-workout agreement is designed to minimize these risks.
- Use a Special Assets Group for Troubled Assets. The CMBS world figured this out and locked it down with special servicing. But other lenders should remember that, whatever the name and acronym, a specialized group should be used for handling troubled assets. A specialized division for working on troubled assets (for convenience we will refer to this group as a specialized asset group or “SAG”) brings greater objectivity in dealing with troubled loan issues, thereby minimizing the peril of an approach drawn from past dealings with the borrower that may be either too sympathetic or too harsh and raise lender liability issues.The SAG should also bring (or will develop) specialized expertise in handling the unique problems of troubled assets. It should be provided with expedited access to senior management for policy decisions and allocation of resources. It should also have authority to implement crucial procedures and policies such as settling customer complaints, bringing in special counsel, hiring consultants, executing pre-workout documents and documenting negotiations to avoid liability for unsuccessful workouts. Bringing the SAG into the situation also provides notice to the borrower that the lender is serious about collecting the debt and that this is not “business as usual.”
- Comprehensive Situation Analysis — Information Update. The Special Asset Group with its experienced, detached personnel, should gather, analyze and summarize all relevant information on the loan, the borrower, the collateral and relevant documentation and history. Update the borrower’s financial statements, tax returns, litigation history and credit rating. In addition to gathering all loan documents, promissory notes, guaranties, evidences of advances, notices, a complete written history of the loan should be prepared. When the history is compiled, care should be taken to protect as much as possible from discovery so that any candid descriptions of problems and proposed solutions to such problems will not be a part of the evidence at trial, should you choose litigation. This can be done by engaging outside counsel or involving the bank’s in-house legal department. Loan service personnel should be interviewed, and waiver and estoppel issues must be evaluated. Consider interviewing witnesses with counsel present, to protect sensitive information obtained from disclosure later on if litigation is filed. The impact of conversations, correspondence, and course of conduct must be given careful consideration. Appraisals, projections and feasibility studies should be updated as necessary. (See related article: “Hospitality Lawyer – The “Comprehensive Situation Analysis” for troubled hotel loans and workouts“)Two final cautions on information updates. First, the update of collateral information should include a physical inspection of the premises. Walk the project! Don’t settle for “drive-by” or borrower’s guided tour. The physical inspection may suggest problems to be dealt with or new approaches to the project.Second, the information, documents and summaries gathered by the Special Assets Group should be reviewed by counsel experienced in troubled loan matters and lender liability. This review should analyze the validity of the notes, security interests, guaranties and other important documents with an eye toward identifying defects that might be cured or curable. From this review lenders should also be able to determine the potential of any borrower defenses or counter claims. Counsel should find out from the lender if there are any potential tort or strict liability claims that may go along with any transfers of ownership in real property, such as an apartment owner’s duty to pay for tenant injuries or a landowner’s duty to pay the costs of cleaning up contaminated property.
- Evaluate the Information and Alternatives. All the gathered information needs to be evaluated by appropriate business and legal personnel. Fully armed with this information and evaluation, the lender can then assess whether to do nothing, commence a workout or restructure of the loan, seek a receiver, initiate foreclosure or initiate involuntary bankruptcy proceedings. (See related article: “Alternate strategies for troubled hotel loans from Hospitality Lawyer: Options and considerations for lenders and borrowers in distressed hotel loans“)
The most successful lenders are those who stick with their game plan
- Develop a “Game Plan” and Stick to it! Once an alternative course of action has been selected, the lender should develop a game plan or blueprint for executing its course of action. There may be valid reasons to wait until specified events have occurred or time periods have elapsed. However, in general, once the course of action has been decided, delay is ill-advised. The most successful lenders are those who stick with their game plan, except as changed circumstances may warrant.
- Pre-Workout Agreement. Before commencing workout negotiations, a pre-workout agreement should be executed. Such an agreement offers the advantage of protecting the lender from liability from claims arising from the workout process itself.Many institutions have been “bitten” by their good faith efforts in a workout situation. They report that desperate debtors or their unscrupulous representatives have either misunderstood statements made in workout negotiations, or intentionally misrepresented positions taken. Whatever the motivation or cause of the problems, these institutions find themselves the victim of claims that oral agreements, representations, or waivers made in the course of a workout entitle the borrower to rights or damages never contemplated by the lender upon entering workout negotiations. The pre-workout agreement is designed to minimize these risks.The pre-workout agreement typically recites that the parties are about the commence workout negotiations and that the agreement is a material inducement for the lender to participate. Loan documents can be attached as exhibits and acknowledged to be legally binding on the parties. It is usually agreed that the loan documents continue in full force, unless modified in the specific manner permitted by the pre-workout agreement. Sometimes, egregious problems which exist in the lender’s loan documentation can be corrected in a pre-workout agreement, when the borrower is usually in a very cooperative mood. The confirmation of the loan document’s binding effect, recital of loan history and acknowledgment of defaults may greatly simplify collection efforts later if the negotiations fail or the workout falls apart. Consider inserting a confidentiality provision in the pre-workout agreement, to try to prevent the borrower from using the media to increase its negotiating leverage, especially if the borrower is in a business that may attract media attention.The key provision of the pre-workout agreement recites that discussions and negotiations between the parties may be lengthy and complex, however, no discussions or oral agreement have any effect whatsoever unless all parties execute a written agreement. This critical provision helps prevent a party from claiming a binding agreement was reached on certain issues in the absence of satisfactory resolution of all disputes in the workout process.
The agreement should provide that only amendments in writing have any effect, should state that the pre-workout agreement is the entire agreement of the parties on the subject matter, specify the governing law and provide for attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party in the event of any dispute. The agreement should also provide that no negotiations or other acts taken in the workout process constitute any waivers by the lender of its rights except to the extent specifically identified in writing. The pre-workout agreement should also confirm that the attorneys’ fees to be incurred by the lender in the workout will be reimbursed by the borrower.
The most controversial issues on pre-workout agreements usually involve whether to include a mandatory arbitration provision for any disputes concerning the credit (with corresponding waiver of jury trial and court process) and any release provisions. Some lenders say they would rather proceed with the “main event” if they cannot obtain an arbitration provision and release for any action up to that date. Others would rather engage in the workout process to cure defects in the loan documentation in exchange for concessions to the borrower and are less concerned with the benefits of arbitration or waivers.
- Document the Transaction Completely. It goes without saying that once negotiations have resulted in a restructuring or workout, all aspects of the agreement should be thoroughly and fully documented promptly.
Distressed hotel loans — Resource Library for hotel workouts, hotel bankruptcies, and hotel deeds in lieu of foreclosure
The hospitality lawyers at JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group have a great library of free resources on dealing with troubled hotel loans. Go to top of the home page at www.HotelLawBlog.com, click on the “HOTEL LAW TOPICS” tab, and then select “Workouts, Bankruptcies & Receiverships.”
Here are a few of the recent articles on troubled hotel loans and assets for your convenience:
Do you know the 8 Dos and Don’ts of handling troubled hotel mortgage loans?
The “Comprehensive Situation Analysis” for troubled hotel mortgage loans and workouts
Lender and borrower alternatives for troubled hotel mortgage loans
Butler’s Matrix: Key to hotel mortgage loan defaults, workouts, bankruptcies and receiverships.
Special Servicers and Special Asset teams confer in Dallas for top special servicing conference
“Speed bumps” in the road to bankruptcy for hotels and resorts.
JMBM’s SAVE® Program for Troubled Hotel Loans
Restructuring distressed condo hotels
Terminating hotel management agreements when things don’t work? Not easy, but not impossible either.
How did we get here?
If you are interested in reviewing how the hotel industry can be shocked from boom to bust overnight, you may find these articles interesting:
- Hospitality Lawyer: Fortunes will be made . . . or lost . . . in the wake of The Financial Bailout and the Panic of 2008.
- Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 5: Whither Lodging Demand, GDP and the Cost of Gasoline?
- What’s the price of gasoline have to do with the future of the lodging industry?
- Hotel Lawyer: As goes the economy, so goes the hospitality industry — the ineluctable elasticity of demand!
- “Hotel Attorney on Hotel Cap Rates. What’s happening to hotel cap rates, values and financing?”
To see how little it takes to turn a hotel loan upside down, see the discussions and examples in the Section entitled “Benefits and detriments of le
verage, and the vicissitudes of changing cap rates and LTVs” in the “Fortunes will be made . . . or lost . . “ article.
JMBM’s Distressed Assets Expertise
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® includes an experienced Distressed Assets Team that mobilizes quickly to address the complex issues surrounding distressed hospitality properties and stalled developments. Whether it is a solution to a lender’s troubled loan or the response to a buyer’s opportunity, we work quickly to preserve value and increase cash flow.
Because hotels are special assets, with operating companies, numerous issues come into play in a workout or bankruptcy scenario. Because we have represented creditors, owners and investors in the hospitality arena for more than two decades, we do not need to “get up to speed” on the special issues.
Regardless of where we are in the market cycle, JMBM’s Distressed Assets Team is involved, day in and day out, in restructuring and working out deals that go sideways. Our experience — together with our knowledge of the current capital markets where distressed assets often include complex deal structures and securitized loans — allows us to bring creative and effective strategies to the table. When aggressive litigation is the best strategy, we are effective, rigorous advocates for our clients’ interests.
For information about how we can help, contact one of the senior members of the team, below.
Jim Butler 310.201.3526 JButler@JMBM.com
Neil Erickson 310.201.3516 NErickson@JMBM.com
Robert Kaplan 415.398.9673 RKaplan@JMBM.com
Guy Maisnik 310.201.3588 GMaisnik@JMBM.com
David Poitras 310.201.3571 DPoitras@JMBM.com
This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. We’ve done more than $87 billion of hotel transactions and more than 100 hotel mixed-used deals in the last 5 years alone. Who’s your hotel lawyer?
________________________
Our Perspective. We represent developers, owners and lenders. We have helped our clients as business and legal advisors on more than $125 billion of hotel transactions, involving more than 4,700 properties all over the world. For more information, please contact Jim Butler at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526.
Jim Butler is one of the top hospitality attorneys in the world. GOOGLE “hotel lawyer” or “hotel mixed-use” or “condo hotel lawyer” and you will see why.
Jim devotes 100% of his practice to hospitality, representing hotel owners, developers and lenders. Jim leads JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® — a team of 50 seasoned professionals with more than $87 billion of hotel transactional experience, involving more than 3,900 properties located around the globe. In the last 5 years alone, Jim and his team have assisted clients with more than 100 hotel mixed-use projects — frequently integrated with energizing lifestyle elements.
Jim and his team are more than “just” great hotel lawyers. They are also hospitality consultants and business advisors. They are deal makers. They can help find the right operator or capital provider. They know who to call and how to reach them.
Contact him at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526. For his views on current industry issues, visit www.HotelLawBlog.com.