Matlin Patterson Global Advisors - MatlinPatterson Distressed Business Investments

MatlinPatterson Distressed Business Investments

MatlinPatterson’s distressed business pursues illiquid control and activist non-control investment strategies, as well as a range of liquid trading strategies. The firm’s control strategies are characterized by its controlling or active participation in distressed companies and their restructurings require a long-term investment outlook. Since 1994, MatlinPatterson and its predecessor entities have invested over $8 billion across 66 control investments. MatlinPatterson’s liquid trading strategies seek to generate profits from changes in the price of securities or claims, with the firm remaining largely uninvolved in a restructuring process or distressed company. Since 1994, MatlinPatterson and its predecessor entities have invested approximately $6 billion across 380 passive and active non-control strategies. In July 2009, MatlinPatterson—which acquired Nortel bonds after the company filed for bankruptcy, becoming one of Nortel's largest bondholders—participated in the auction for Nortel's CDMA and LTE wireless assets. Ericsson ultimately outbid NokiaSiemens and MatlinPatterson, paying almost double the initial "stalking horse" bid of $650 million.

In 2007, MatlinPatterson acquired a controlling stake in XL Health, a Baltimore based Medicare Advantage health plan focused on senior citizens with chronic diseases. In 2011, the company was acquired by United Healthcare after having taken EBITDA from ($112) million in 2007 to a $259 million in 2011. This deal won the operational excellence award for the healthcare segment from Private Equity International magazine.

The firm was also a significant purchaser of WorldCom bonds. The company later was renamed MCI Worldcom and later more simply to MCI prior to its subsequent acquisition by Verizon.

In 2001, MatlinPatterson became the majority owner of Huntsman Corporation., which at the time was the 5th largest chemicals company world-wide, and later became a public company. MatlinPatterson has also made several investments in the energy sector, becoming the largest shareholder of NRG Energy, which was the country’s third largest independent power company, as well as acquiring several power generation facilities in the Southeastern United States.

Other significant investments include California-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp., in which MatlinPatterson purchased a controlling stake in 2008. Between January 2009 and November 2010, MatlinPatterson invested $1 billion to become the controlling shareholder of Flagstar Bancorp of Troy, Michigan.