Overview

Tyler Ferguson is a partner in the Chicago office of Mayer Brown and is a member of the firm’s Restructuring practice. Tyler has substantial experience in complex insolvency matters, including out-of-court restructurings and recapitalizations, bankruptcy proceedings, insurance company receiverships, and default-related litigation. Tyler typically represents companies, investors, administrative agents, trustees and other stakeholders in a wide range of distressed scenarios involving a variety of industries, including real estate, energy, technology, food and beverage, transportation, manufacturing, aviation, hospitality, and mining.

In the course of his practice, Tyler advises clients seeking to acquire or sell assets as part of the bankruptcy process, advises financial institutions in regard to municipal insolvency matters, and has represented a former C-suite executive in a major Chapter 11 case. 

Tyler also routinely advises investor, servicer, and trustee clients on bankruptcy, transactional, and other distressed situations involving consumer debt portfolios, derivatives, and structured products, including RMBS, CMBS, and CDOs. 

Tyler has been recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for 2016-2021. Tyler is an active member of the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. Tyler served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Mary Gorman in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Experience

Tyler’s representative matters include:

  • The original administrative agent and lead lender, under a $200 million multi-lender first lien secured facility to FrontPoint Security Solutions, LLC, a major alarm security company, and its affiliates. This transaction was awarded “Industrials Deal of the Year” at The M&A Advisor’s 2021 Turnaround Awards.
  • Northern Ocean Ltd., an international drilling contractor, in connection with the US chapter 11 filing of Seadrill Limited and its affiliates, a leading global provider of offshore contract drilling services with approximately $7.3 billion in debt at the time of filing, and the negotiation of a contract dispute with Seadrill Limited and its affiliates.
  • A large European financial institution in connection with LATAM Airlines’s chapter 11 proceeding and guarantee issued for the benefit of LATAM Airlines.
  • A major Mexican financial institution in connection with Aeromexico’s chapter 11 proceedings in the United States. The representation involved advising the financial institution in its capacity as a lender under multiple export credit agency-backed loans to Aeromexico, as well in its capacity as a letter of credit and swap provider under various prepetition and postpetition transactions.
  • A major U.S. lender in connection with out-of-court restructuring of Kazakhstan-based airline’s financing transactions backed by European export credit agency.
  • School Specialty, Inc., a leading provider of educational products and services to the Pre-K- 12th grade market in the U.S. and Canada, in its successful out-of-court restructuring of more than $300 million of debt and consensual sale of substantially all of its assets to an entity formed by TCW Asset Management Company, LLC, Cerberus Capital Management, and Lantern Capital Partners.
  • The administrative agent for a $1 billion prepetition first lien facility in the Chapter 11 cases of Samson Resources Group and its affiliates, which prior to its filing had been the largest independent upstream oil and gas company in the United States.
  • The administrative agent and secured lenders in connection with an assignment for the benefit of creditors (“ABC”) proceeding under Delaware law.

Education

Elmhurst College, BA, summa cum laude

University of Illinois College of Law, JD, magna cum laude
Administrative Editor, Elder Law Journal

Admissions

  • Illinois

Court

  • US District Court for the Central District of Illinois
  • US District Court for the District of Colorado
  • US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Activities

  • American Bankruptcy Institute; Turnaround Management Association