Transportation & Automotive

Whether it is aviation or automotive, Weil has led notable representations in transportation and related areas. Weil’s restructuring of American Airlines, including our client’s merger with US Airways, was one of the most successful chapter 11 cases in airline history, enabling creditors to receive a full recovery on their claims and providing a substantial distribution to stockholders. In the American Airlines matter, our Bankruptcy lawyers worked with our M&A lawyers to handle both the restructuring and the related multibillion-dollar M&A deal synchronously.

The Firm’s many practice groups have successfully worked together to assist the automotive sector as well, in both restructuring and corporate finance matters. Weil helped General Motors avoid systematic failure and save hundreds of thousands of jobs by bringing the “New GM” out of bankruptcy in just 40 days. Weil has also been involved in some of the largest financings on record in the automotive industry. The Firm, for example, advised J.P. Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs, as lead arrangers, in the $18.5 billion financing for Ford, the largest ever financing in the automotive industry to this day. The Firm advised General Motors in its $11 billion revolving credit facilities, the largest unfunded non-investment grade revolver in history at the time and the third-largest financing in the automotive industry behind the $18.5 billion Ford transaction and the $17 billion financing Daimler Chrysler obtained in 1999.

Weil’s deep resources in the United States and abroad with significant experience across all legal disciplines has enabled the Firm to provide outstanding service to many companies and investors in the shipping and logistics sector.

Weil has also successfully provided representation of clients in significant litigation in the industry, including two major antitrust litigations in which American Airlines prevailed against Sabre Holdings and Travelport in a dispute over the online market for airline ticket distribution. The Firm has also won a number of autoparts liability matters for our clients.