Viewpoints: Portfolio Company Pension Liabilities
The Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 ("MPPAA") amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and the Internal Revenue Code to make "trade[s] or business[es]" that are under "common...more
On November 22, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that two separate private equity funds managed by the same general partner/management firm were not liable for the pension fund withdrawal...more
In a decision published on November 22, 2019, the First Circuit reversed a district court’s prior decision and held two Sun Capital private equity funds were not liable for the withdrawal liability incurred when a...more
Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that two co-investing Sun Capital private equity funds (the Sun Funds) had not created an implied “partnership-in-fact” for purposes of determining whether...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A bankruptcy court overseeing an employer’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding allowed the employer to pay certain unsecured creditors before paying Worker Adjustment And Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”)...more
Non-Enforcement - Amendments to the Venture Capital Fund Adviser and Private Fund Adviser Exemptions - Last month the SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued a guidance update (Update) addressing recent...more
On March 28, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (the District Court) delivered a controversial opinion in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund...more
A group of related private equity (“PE”) funds were found liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s pension plan debts in the latest and most worrisome decision in the long-running Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England...more
On March 28, 2016, a district court in Massachusetts found two private equity funds (under the Sun Capital Partners, Inc. umbrella) jointly and severally liable for withdrawal liability imposed on one of its underlying...more
A U.S. District Court issued a ruling on March 28 that affects pension liabilities for private equity funds and their portfolio companies. Taken further, the ruling potentially changes fundamental rules for tax-qualified...more
District Court finds affiliated funds acted in de facto partnership which controlled portfolio company; Decision may be significant in making private equity acquisition structuring choices. As we previously reported, in...more
In a significant decision for both private equity funds and multiemployer pension plans, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held last week in Sun Capital Partners III, L.P. v. New England Teamsters &...more
District Court finds affiliated funds acted in de facto partnership which controlled portfolio company; Decision may be significant in making private equity acquisition structuring choices. On March 28, 2016, a Federal...more
On May 21, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in a 2-1 opinion, recognized a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case could be dismissed through a “structured dismissal” that deviates from the priority scheme...more
The United States District Court in Delaware recently issued a welcome decision for private equity firms whose portfolio companies run afoul of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”). In In re...more
As first discussed in July 2013 the First Circuit Court of Appeals held in Sun Capital Partners III, LP, et al. v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund that a Sun Capital Partners private equity fund (Sun...more