Jason Wright Wins Small Company Turnaround/Transaction Award at TMA Annual Conference

In November 2022, partner Jason Wright will be awarded the Small Company Turnaround/Transaction Award at the Turnaround Management Association (TMA)’s annual Turnaround and Transaction of the Year Awards.

He will be recognized for his work on a team that represented both Klausner Lumber One, LLC (“KL1”) and Klausner Lumber Two LLC (“KL2”) in bankruptcy proceedings that included Charles Reardon, Robert Prusak, and Mike Freeman from Asgaard Capital, LLC, who served as chief restructuring officers.

The team retained Jason as a court-approved expert on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program in the bankruptcy proceedings for both KL1 and KL2, which were European-owned and managed start-of-the-art timber sawmills in Florida and North Carolina that were abandoned during the COVID-19 pandemic (see In re Klausner Lumber One, LLC, Case No. 20-11033 (Bankr. Del.); In re Klausner Lumber Two, LLC, Case No. 20-11518 (Bankr. Del.).

Jason, who has extensive EB-5 litigation experience, advised KL1 and KL2’s chief restructuring officers from Asgaard Capital and bankruptcy counsel to ensure that the largest creditors in the cases (~250 EB-5 immigrant investors) retained their entitlement to immigration benefits under the EB-5 Program. Curtis’ contributions and assistance to Asgaard Capital and the team led to phenomenal sale prices of approximately $61 million for KL1 and $83.5 million for KL2 and a structuring that protected the EB-5 investors’ continuing entitlement to immigration benefits despite the bankruptcies. The bankruptcy court, which qualified Jason Wright as an expert witness on the EB-5 Program, commended him on his efforts in educating the court on the EB-5 Program.

The TMA’s annual award ceremony honors excellence on the most successful turnarounds and impactful transactions in the turnaround and restructuring industry, and winners are chosen through a rigorous peer-review process.