Steve Mertz, a partner in the Faegre Baker Daniels finance and restructuring practice, has been with the firm since 1990. He practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business reorganization and commercial finance.

Representative cases include:

• Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc./Lehman Brothers, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.). Steve represents the trustee of numerous structured financing transactions and several other creditors involving Lehman Brothers entities.
• Farmland Industries Bankruptcy Case (W.D. Mo.). Steve represented the indenture trustee for $500 million of subordinated, unsecured bonds.
• MJK Clearing, Inc. (D. Minn.). Steve represented the trustee in the second largest Securities Investor Protection Act liquidation proceeding, involving approximately 175,000 customer accounts totaling in excess of $10 billion.
• Centran Corporation Bankruptcy Case (D. Minn.). Steve represented both the unsecured creditors' committee and, after a sale of Centran's assets, and confirmation of Centran's liquidating plan, the debtor, in a Chapter 11 case involving a natural gas marketer with annual revenues in excess of $200 million.
• Ruhr/Paragon, Incorporated Bankruptcy Case (D. Minn.). Steve represented the unsecured creditors' committee in a Chapter 11 case involving an advertising agency with annual revenues in excess of $8,000,000, which resulted in a sale of the debtor's assets and confirmation of a liquidating plan.
• Citi Equity Group, Inc. Bankruptcy Case (D. Minn.). Steve represented the debtor in a Chapter 11 case involving a syndicator of and general partner in approximately 80 limited partnerships, which also resulted in a sale of the debtor's assets and confirmation of a liquidating plan.
• First Merchants Acceptance Corporation Bankruptcy Case (D. Del.). Steve represented the unsecured creditors' committee in a Chapter 11 case involving an originator of sub-prime auto loans with an owned loan portfolio of $120 million and a securitized loan portfolio of $580 million, which also resulted in a sale of the debtor's assets and confirmation of a liquidating plan.

In addition, Steve has significant experience representing individual priority and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy cases. In the Refco, Inc. bankruptcy case (S.D.N.Y.), Steve represented one of the largest unsecured creditors in a chapter 11 case involving what once was one of the largest commodity brokerage firms in the United States. In the Reliance Acceptance Corporation bankruptcy case (D. Del.), Steve represented one of the largest unsecured creditors in a Chapter 11 case involving an originator of both prime and sub-prime auto loans with an owned loan portfolio of $225 million and a securitized loan portfolio of $180 million.

Steve has represented secured lenders in several major bankruptcy cases in Minnesota, including Brutger Equities, Inc., Northland Park, The Northtown Triangle Limited Partnership, Atlanta North Associates, Stuebner Properties and Kellogg Square Partnership. In addition, Steve has represented secured lenders in a number of bankruptcy cases outside of Minnesota, including the Glen Ivy Resorts, Inc. bankruptcy case (C.D. Cal.), the Falmouth Associates bankruptcy case (S.D.N.Y.), the Growth Environmental Services, Inc. bankruptcy case (N.D. Ill.), the American Resource Recovery bankruptcy case (E.D. Wis.), the Uncle B's Bakery, Inc. bankruptcy case (N.D. Iowa) and the West Galena Holdings, Inc. bankruptcy case (D. Colo.).

Steve has also represented Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. as the trustee of various asset-backed securitization trusts in the bankruptcy cases of Jayhawk Acceptance Corporation (N.D. Tex.), Vanguard Acceptance Corporation (N.D. Tex. and D. Col.), AutoBond Funding Corporation 1997-A (D. Nev.), Destination Film Distribution Company (C.D. Cal.), FINOVA Loan Administration (D. Del.), T & W Financial Services (W.D. Wash.), lendnetwork.com Corporation (E.D. Mo.), Oakwood Homes Corp. (D. Del.), Conseco Finance, Inc. (N.D. Ill.), Parmalat S.p.A. (Italy, Cayman Islands, Brazil and U.S.), US Mortgage (D. Nev.), Mortgage Lenders Network USA, Inc. (D. Del.) and Alliance Bancorp (D.Del.)

Steve's bankruptcy practice frequently includes both defending and pursuing preference actions. He also has extensive experience representing retailers and equipment and real property lessors in bankruptcy cases and on bankruptcy-related issues.

Outside of bankruptcy, Steve has extensive experience representing trustees of troubled asset-backed securities, involving servicer issues, class-action lawsuits against the trusts, credit insurance issues, claims against the trustees and other matters. He has also assisted a group of banks and insurance companies in restructuring their loans to a national manufacturer of farming equipment, acted as counsel on bankruptcy-related issues in a number of asset securitization transactions, and represented various creditors in connection with FDIC receiverships of failed banks.

Pro Bono

Professional Associations

• Minnesota State Bar Association, Bankruptcy Law Section

Presentations

• Uncle Sam to the Rescue? Impact of Government Stimulus on the Credit and Real Estate Markets
  Univ. of Minn. CLE: 2009 National Seminar on Government Contracts
• Representing a Lender or Lienholder During a Bankruptcy
  MSBA/CLE: 2009 Real Estate Institute
• Chapter 11 Roundtable
  MSBA/CLE: 2004 Bankruptcy Institute
• Buying/Selling a Business in Bankruptcy
  MSBA/CLE: 2003 Bankruptcy Institute
• High Profile Bankruptcies in the Securitization Market; Lessons Learned
  Midwest Reg. Conf. for Structured Finance: Securitization 5th Annual Institute (1999)
• Summary of Selected U.S. Supreme Court, Eighth Circuit, Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and Local Cases: 6/1/97 through 5/31/98.
  MSBA/CLE: 1998 Bankruptcy Institute (1998)
• Troubled Transactions: Players, Bankruptcy, Workout, Documentation
  Midwest Reg. Conf. for Structured Finance: Securitization 4th Annual Institute (1998)
• Role of an Asset-Backed Securitization Trustee in a Default Situation - problems and considerations
  Midwest Reg. Conf. for Structured Finance: Securitization 3rd Annual Institute (1997)
• Defending Preference Actions: Defenses Available in Addition to Section 547(c) Exceptions
  MSBA/CLE: 1996 Bankruptcy Institute (1996)
• Insolvency Issues in Asset Securitization Issues
  Midwest Reg. Conf. for Structured Finance: Securitization 2nd Annual Institute (1996)
• Dealing with Litigation-Driven Bankruptcy Cases
  Bankruptcy Seminars of Iowa, Inc.: Advanced Bankruptcy Procedures Seminar (1995)
• Insolvency Issues in Asset Securitization Issues
  Midwest Reg. Conf. For Structured Finance: Securitization Institute (1995)

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