Investment Banking / Restructuring

Restructuring & Special Situations

When a balance sheet no longer fits the business, the next decisions carry more weight than any the company has made. We help owners, boards and lenders make them with a clear view of the options and the capital to act on them.

Practice overview

Restructuring Advisory

Our approach, services and team in a single document for boards and lenders.

Download the PDF

The practice

Most companies that call us are not failing. They are carrying debt sized for a different business, running short on cash, or answering to a lender whose patience is wearing thin.

We advise lower middle market and early stage companies, and the boards, lenders and investors around them, in and out of court. We start with the cash: how much there is, how long it lasts and who has a claim on it. From there we set out the options the company can actually execute, bring the parties who must approve to agreement, and run the transaction through closing.

We are also an active investment bank. In 2024 and 2025 we raised $411 million for more than 30 clients, and the lenders, investors and buyers behind those deals are the same ones we call when a company needs new money or has to sell a division. Our advice reflects what that market will fund and pay now.

What we do

Liquidity and financial assessment

Cash flow forecasting, scenario models and a review of the business plan, built to hold up in front of lenders and to show exactly how much runway remains.

Capital structure

A review of the debt and equity stack and the ways to reset it, including amendments, maturity extensions, exchanges and new money.

Distressed M&A and asset sales

Sale of the company, a division or specific assets, run on a timeline the company's cash position can support, inside or outside of a court process.

Refinancing and new capital

Replacing existing lenders or bringing in fresh equity or debt, drawing on the investor relationships behind our private placement work.

Lender and creditor negotiations

Representing the company or a stakeholder group in discussions with lenders, creditors and equity holders to reach terms each side can accept.

Board and management support

Independent advice to boards, special committees and management, working alongside counsel, accountants and any appointed restructuring officer.

Execution through closing

Transaction structuring, buyer and investor outreach, diligence management and negotiation until the deal is signed and funded.

When companies
call us

A covenant breach or an approaching maturity

The existing lender will not extend on current terms and a refinancing has not come together.

Cash runway measured in months

Operations are sound, but working capital, a lost customer or a delayed raise has put liquidity under pressure.

A lender-driven process

The bank is pressing for a sale, a new advisor or a change in control, and management wants its own banker at the table.

A board reviewing its alternatives

Directors need an independent view on whether to sell, recapitalize, restructure or file.

A division or asset that has to be sold

Selling a business line or asset to fund the core company or satisfy creditors, often on a short timeline.

Planning ahead of insolvency

Preparing the company and its stakeholders while there is still time to act outside of court.

Restructuring team

Peter Formanek, CPA

Founder & Managing Partner

More than 30 years advising companies, fund managers and family offices, with over 300 transactions completed.

914.777.0100

David Bunzel

Senior Managing Director, Investment Banking, M&A, Public & Private Markets

Investment banking, M&A and public and private market transactions.

914.725.9610

Omar Brown

Senior Managing Director, Investment Banking

More than 25 years in public and private capital markets, as an advisor and as an endowment and hedge fund investor.

917.204.3773

Jon Lunsford

Senior Director, Co-Head of Technology, Media & Telecom

More than 30 years executing capital raises and M&A, in transactions from a few million dollars to over $2 billion.

804.357.2615

Bruce Kaufman

Senior Director, Co-Head of Life Sciences & Healthcare

More than 30 years in investment banking, restructurings and capital raising. Previously Rothschild, Lehman Brothers, Compass Advisers and Coopers & Lybrand.

347.400.2082

Valerie Bowman

Vice President

More than 25 years in commercial real estate at JLL, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield.

610.420.6594

View the full YAC team

Start with the numbers.

Send us the latest financials and the credit agreement. A senior banker will read both before we speak, so the first call is about your company’s options.

Young America Capital · Mamaroneck, New York