Restructuring & Turnaround

Whether you are a lender requiring support as part of a corporate restructuring, or simply an owner looking for innovative ways in which to optimize underperforming assets, ETA’s team members have extensive, hands-on experience in successfully guiding companies through turbulent times. Restructuring and turnaround support can include an independent assessment of contracts, asset value, cash flow potential, market conditions, operational/maintenance processes, and environmental conditions.  Having participated in numerous projects where distressed assets have been successfully refinanced and revitalized, ETA members are ready to assist in either an advisory or interim management capacity.

Notable Projects

• Mirant Americas Generation​ – ETA members were engaged by the United States District Court of the Northern District of Texas on behalf of the committee of unsecured creditors to provide operational and environmental reviews of Mirant America’s fleet of ten U.S. and Caribbean based generating stations (aggregating 9,500 MW of power generation) as part of Mirant’s bankruptcy proceedings. The work, which included detailed plant evaluations and the development of updated operational and financial projections, was instrumental in showing enhanced value for the assets, which in turn allowed for a substantial return of capital to the unsecured creditors in this reorganization.
• German Pellets​ – ETA members provided technical, safety and commercial services to the creditors of two 500,000 tonne per year wood pellet facilities in Louisiana and Texas. This engagement was geared towards maintaining asset value through a bankruptcy process that ultimately led to the sale of the projects in 2019.
  • For more information on this project, visit our Case Study on German Pellets
• Puerto Rico electric Power Authority (PREPA)​ – An ETA member assisted the Chief Financial Advisor of PREPA in the reconstruction and bankruptcy/restructuring of the Authority following a series of devastating hurricanes. ETA staff led technical negotiations related to a Jones Act Waiver, assisted with fuel supply negotiations/permitting to support LNG importation, provided technical guidance related to PREPA’s Integrated Resource Plan, and assisted with the negotiation for new sources of renewable energy and storage. ETA staff also provided expert testimony in support of these activities to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, PREPA’s primary regulator.
• Detroit Renewable Energy​ – Following the company’s acquisition by an infrastructure fund, an ETA member was engaged to help evaluate, optimize assets, and maximize operating cash flows at one of the largest combined waste to energy plants and district steam heating utilities in the U.S. Following a corporate restructuring, ETA was subsequently re-engaged to lead the company’s first general rate case for its regulated steam utility under the new ownership.
• Southaven Power​ – ETA members led a range of advisory services to the lenders of Southaven Power, which had defaulted on its loan following the bankruptcy of the facility’s power off-taker. The assessment included evaluations of the company’s business and power marketing functions, providing updated power market assessments, building an independent valuation model, and generating project cash flow forecasts.
• NRG Mid-Atlantic Generating​ – ETA members served in a technical, financial, and business management advisory capacity to the secured lenders of NRG MidAtlantic Generating. Services included determining optimal plant dispatch based on incremental heat rates, and evaluating the impact of planned and forced outage rates on the financial performance of the company.