Vedder Price is pleased to announce the firm’s Insolvency, Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization group received the 2021 Real Estate Restructuring Deal of the Year Award from The M&A Advisor for its involvement in the sale of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel.

The L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel property was among the assets sold by the United States Government in an effort to recover illegally laundered funds from a major international money laundering scandal known as 1MDB, which allegedly involved the embezzlement of billions of dollars from the Malaysian development fund of the same name. The embezzled funds were used to buy expensive properties, a mega-yacht, paintings by Van Gogh and Monet, and finance the Hollywood movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The sprawling scandal spurred law enforcement actions in the United States, Singapore, Switzerland and Malaysia to trace the misappropriated funds through a complex web of financial institutions and shell companies.

The Vedder Price team working on the sale was led by Michael M. Eidelman, Shareholder and Chair of the Insolvency, Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization practice group. Mr. Eidelman ran a competitive auction and sale process in accordance with Court approved sale procedures, and solicited over 50 competing bids for the hotel in an open and transparent manner. The hotel property was ultimately sold to EOS Investors, LLC, a real estate investment firm specializing in the hospitality sector, for $100 million. Mr. Eidelman was assisted in this matter by fellow Vedder Price shareholders Andrew Torre and Ryan S. Hedges and associate Allison B. Hudson. A team headed by Matthew Bordwin at Keen-Summit Capital Partners LLC acted as the exclusive real estate agent for the sale.

“We are honored to have our team recognized by The M&A Advisor and The 15th Annual Turnaround Awards,” said Mr. Eidelman. “We are elated with the outcome of the sale. The fact that Vedder Price’s team and our colleagues at Keen-Summit were able to execute this transaction during a global pandemic is a great testament to our hard work and skill.”

The 15th Annual Turnaround Awards were presented by The M&A Advisor at the 2021 Distressed Investing Summit. The Summit assembles the most active restructuring dealmakers, distressed asset investors, bankruptcy judges, advisors, consultants, and other key market experts—academics, media, government, and political influencers—and celebrates the leading distressed M&A, restructuring, and refinancing transactions, firms, and professionals.