Weil represents Avon Products, Inc. (“Avon”), the former U.S. holding company for the Avon International beauty brand, and its U.S. subsidiaries in their chapter 11 cases pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. 

On August 21, 2025 — approximately one year from the date Avon commenced the chapter 11 cases — the Court issued a 95-page decision, which held that the Court would confirm Avon’s proposed chapter 11 plan, subject to certain revisions.

Avon filed for chapter 11 on August 12, 2024, facing significant lawsuits alleging injury caused by Avon’s talc products and $1.3 billion of funded debt. During the cases, Weil, along with Avon’s other advisors, successfully negotiated and obtained approval of a settlement with Avon’s Brazilian parent company, Natura &Co Holding S.A. (“Natura”) on December 6, 2024, as well as a sale of substantially all of Avon’s assets to Natura, which closed on December 10, 2024.

The settlement, which ultimately was supported by the committee of unsecured creditors, resulted in Avon receiving, among other things, a cash payment by Natura, Natura’s commitment to fund the undrawn portion of its debtor-in-possession financing, Natura’s agreement to assume Avon’s defined benefit pension plan, and a waiver of all of Natura’s remaining secured and unsecured debt claims in a total amount of over $1 billion. In addition, Weil successfully completed a sale of substantially all of Avon’s assets, including all of its equity in Avon’s international operating subsidiaries, to Natura, which resulted in $125 million in value for the estates in the form of a credit bid by Natura and additional value via the assumption and assignment to Natura of a substantial number of Avon’s contracts and Natura’s agreement to pay cure costs and assume additional liabilities. 

Following the successful consummation of the settlement and sale, Avon, advised by Weil, negotiated a chapter 11 plan of liquidation (the “Plan”) with the committee of unsecured creditors and other constituencies to administer the estates’ remaining assets, including the cash settlement proceeds, Avon’s rights to coverage under certain insurance policies, and certain retained causes of action.  Under the proposed Plan, a trust is to be established administering multiple funds for talc claimants and other general unsecured creditors, funded with a combination of cash, insurance rights, and retained estate causes of action.

The Plan also included a unique feature allowing general unsecured creditors to choose whether to receive their pro rata share of cash from the fund established for them, or whether to opt in to receive treatment identical to the talc claimants, consisting in more uncertain recoveries from insurance and other causes of action. The Plan received overwhelming support from all voting creditors, including 100% of voting talc claimants and approximately 97% of the voting general unsecured creditors. At confirmation, the only objections to the Plan were filed by the U.S. Trustee and two groups of insurers.

After a two-day confirmation hearing in July, including witness testimony and oral argument, the Court issued a memorandum decision on August 21 finding that Avon’s chapter 11 plan was confirmable subject to certain modest modifications primarily to make clear that the rights of all parties under Avon’s various insurance policies are not impaired or expanded as a result of the chapter 11 cases.  As part of the Court’s discussion in its memorandum decision regarding whether the chapter 11 cases and the Plan were filed in good faith and for a proper purpose, the Court emphasized more than once that the record contained a substantial body of evidence demonstrating that Avon, through its counsel, had taken note of issues arising in other mass tort cases and had set out from the outset of these chapter 11 cases “to do things right” and that the evidence presented at confirmation was broadly consistent with that representation.

The Weil team is led by Restructuring Department Co-Chair Ronit Berkovich, partner Matthew Goren and associates Alejandro Bascoy, Carlos Sardina, Alexandra Langmo, Melissa Dzenis-Garcia, Resilda Karafili, Jillian Ingrisano, Devin W. Burdo, and Immanuel Vorbach (Not Yet Admitted in New York); Complex Commercial Litigation partner Jessica Falk and associates Sydney Hargrove, Kathleen Stanaro, Rocco Recce, Jasmine Harris, Tiffany Kim, and Courtney Carpinello; Mergers & Acquisitions partner Mariel Cruz, counsel Barrett Schitka and associates Enrico Bueno Da Silveira Leite, Daniel Ruzi, and Gabrielle Fressle; Banking & Finance partner Andrew Yoon and associate Danielle Cepelewicz; Technology & IP Transactions partner Karen Ballack; and Head of M&A Tax and International and Cross-border Tax Devon Bodoh, partners Alfonso Dulcey and Jenny Doak and associates Jonathan Vita and Grant Solomon. In addition, Avon was advised by Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, Rothschild & Co, and Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A.