Real Estate Companies Solutions Group Is Formed

The global law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP has created an interdisciplinary team of attorneys to represent clients in the accelerating wave of dealmaking, as real estate companies worldwide seek to deleverage, recapitalize, restructure and otherwise seek liquidity. The newly formed Real Estate Companies Solutions Group brings together experts with expertise from the firm's real estate, corporate, capital markets, tax, fund formation, bankruptcy, restructuring and litigation groups. The group will provide targeted advice to real estate companies, investors and other capital sources in entity-level transactions resulting from the current unprecedented real property and finance sector dislocations. It will represent clients to implement a broad range of options, such as M&A, tender offers, spin-offs, joint ventures, or bankruptcy including "prepackaged" bankruptcies. "The current 'perfect storm' affecting the real estate industry is creating both risks and opportunities for our clients," said Michael Cohen, a Los Angeles partner in the Corporate Finance Practice Group. Among the categories of transactions involving real estate companies, including REITs, the group expects to execute mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and workout transactions, and representing new equity in bankruptcies.