Background: In February 2024, Pioneer Health Systems LLC and several of its affiliates voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 1:24-bk-10279). The filings were part of a strategic effort to stabilize operations, restructure the organization’s financial obligations, and preserve healthcare services for the communities its hospitals serve.
Pioneer had been operating amid mounting financial pressures, including reduced reimbursement from high-deductible health plans, the impact of federal sequestration, rising operational costs, delayed insurance payments, and required investments in electronic health records systems. These industry-wide challenges strained the company’s cash flow and long-term viability.
Gavin/Solmonese’s Role: After a contentious plan confirmation process that led to a litigious sale process that produced no clear consensus as to outcome, Gavin/Solmonese was engaged in a fiduciary capacity to provide seasoned leadership and strategic oversight during this Chapter 11 case. Ted Gavin, CTP, NCPM, Managing Director at Gavin/Solmonese, was appointed to serve as the Independent Director for Pioneer Health Systems LLC with complete oversight over the Chapter 11 process and the sale process. This role leveraged Mr. Gavin’s deep experience in corporate restructuring, governance, and stakeholder alignment.
As Independent Director, Mr. Gavin’s responsibilities included:
The Pioneer Health Systems’ Chapter 11 case proceeded under Subchapter V of Chapter 11, an addition to the bankruptcy code created by the Small Business Reorganization Act in 2019, which is designed to provide smaller debtors with a more streamlined reorganization process.
Gavin/Solmonese worked to bring clarity and independence to a hotly contested sale process, ran an auction process that resulted in full payment of unsecured claims that also paved the way for existing equityholders of the Debtor to maintain their ownership of the firm.
Impact: Thanks to the Chapter 11 reorganization and strong governance support, Pioneer was able to continue operations without disruption to patient care or employee pay during restructuring. The company secured creditor and court approvals for restructuring actions, including financing and plan terms, that support its path forward. Gavin Solmonese’s work as the independent honest broker contributed to stakeholder confidence and procedural integrity throughout a complex process.
Gavin/Solmonese’s engagement in the Pioneer Health Systems LLC Chapter 11 case demonstrates the firm’s capability to provide critical governance and restructuring support in complex bankruptcy environments. Ted Gavin’s service as Independent Director was a central element in guiding Pioneer to the successful conclusion of the bankruptcy process with an emphasis on stability, transparency, and a sustainable path to reorganized operations.
Sale of Masten Space Systems to Astrobotic Technology
Gavin/Solmonese’s expertise in strategic advisory and consulting was recognized at the 2023 M&A Advisor’s Turnaround Awards, where we were awarded the prestigious Industrials Deal of the Year for our work on the sale of Masten Space Systems to Astrobotic Technology.
The client, a manufacturing company facing severe operational and financial distress, needed a comprehensive turnaround strategy to address declining revenues, inefficient processes, and mounting debt, all while maintaining stakeholder confidence.
Challenge: An aerospace manufacturing company was in deep operational and financial distress, struggling with insufficient revenues, inefficient production, and mounting debt. Stakeholder confidence was eroding, nearly $100 million of taxpayer dollars were at stake, and a successful exit seemed out of reach without decisive intervention.
Our Role: Gavin/Solmonese stepped in first as strategic advisor and asset sale and interim management partner. We deployed a cross-functional team to assess the company’s financials, operations, and market dynamics. Our team, working closely with the remaining management, crafted a turnaround strategy focused on cost containment, operational streamlining, and debt restructuring—laying the groundwork for both stability and sale-readiness. To finance a chapter 11 restructuring, we found creative ways to monetize illiquid assets and worked in conjunction with the company’s largest supplier to utilize the company’s advance payments on a future launch to provide the basis for both an asset sale and debtor-in-possession financing.
Result: Through targeted operational improvements, the company saw a 20% boost in production efficiency. Debt restructuring efforts cleaned the balance sheet and, with the business stabilized and a path to profitable performance, Gavin/Solmonese guided the successful sale of Masten Space Systems to Astrobotic Technology—an outcome that earned national recognition for excellence in turnaround execution.
Impact: This engagement demonstrates how decisive interim leadership, paired with rigorous financial and operational strategy, can rescue a company in crisis and deliver value for all stakeholders. Gavin/Solmonese’s leadership not only restored performance but positioned the company for a successful future under new ownership.
Pidcock v. Sturm Ruger & Company
Challenge: In one of the most common—and commonly misunderstood—types of bankruptcy litigation, the trustee in the AcuSport bankruptcy sought to claw back over $3 million in alleged “preference” payments made in the 90 days before the bankruptcy filing to firearms manufacturer Sturm Ruger.
Our Role: To defend against the claim, Sturm Ruger retained Gavin/Solmonese Managing Director Ted Gavin as an expert witness. His assignment: determine whether the payments fell within the “ordinary course of business,” a key defense under Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Gavin/Solmonese case team conducted a rigorous analysis using industry-standard data and methodologies to assess the typical payment timing within the firearms manufacturing industry, and benchmarked Sturm Ruger’s transactions with AcuSport accordingly.
Result: The court granted summary judgment in favor of Sturm Ruger, repeatedly affirming the credibility, methodology, and conclusions of Gavin’s expert opinion. The ruling emphasized that Gavin applied the correct industry benchmarks, used appropriate statistical tools, and provided data-driven analysis that the plaintiff failed to effectively challenge. The court explicitly stated that “Ruger’s expert is correct,” making clear that Gavin’s analysis was pivotal to the evidentiary presentation that allowed for the outcome.
Impact: This case highlights how expert testimony—when grounded in industry knowledge, objective benchmarks, reliable methodologies, and clear communication—can be decisive in complex litigation. Ted Gavin’s work didn’t just support the defense’s counsel; it helped win the case.
The owner of a precision medical instrument manufacturer engaged a Gavin/Solmonese case team to act as Chief Restructuring Officer. The initial assignment was to stop negative cash flow, prepare a cash stabilization plan, identify potential strategic buyers, and negotiate a sale of the business. Once cash flow was stabilized, the case team identified several alternatives to selling the business and assisted in the sale of the company as a management buyout.
A company that manufactured and distributed machines to imprint circuit board outlines was losing money after the financial meltdown in the Pacific Rim area and crash of the semiconductor industry. Unfortunately, management did not react quickly enough to the changing conditions. A situational assessment by a Gavin/Solmonese Managing Director revealed serious problems that were not solvable with the company on its own, and Gavin/Solmonese was engaged to oversee the sale of the business to a strategic buyer.
A privately held injection and blow-molding company with annual revenue of over $100 million engaged Gavin/Solmonese to provide advisory services after the lender group realized its collateral coverage position had severely declined. Within three weeks, the G/S case team performed an assessment and presented their findings and recommendations to the Board of Directors, shareholders, and the senior lender group.
Major changes were instituted as a result, including replacing a key plant manager, deferring the payment for the main raw material ingredient (as a result of formal deferral plans with suppliers), and instituting a cash management system. The firm sought and received seasonal accommodations from its lenders, allowing it to optimize its peak spring selling season. Gavin/Solmonese was appointed CRO by the client’s Board of Directors and successfully recruited new personnel for the position of Chief Information Officer.
Gavin/Solmonese was engaged by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Prince Sports, Inc., manufacturer of world-renowned racquet-sports equipment. Working closely with committee counsel Patton Boggs, Hunton & Williams, and Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz, Gavin/Solmonese thoroughly analyzed the debtors’ pre-petition sale and refinancing efforts and investigated their preparation for bankruptcy. As a result, we found several opportunities to not only object to the sale but also argue for an expanded process.
Gavin/Solmonese’s rapid valuation of the potential cash flow from the company’s intellectual property assets and their deposition testimony drove objections to the sale process, resulting in a settlement for unsecured creditors that provided a recovery exponentially greater than that originally proposed by the debtor and plan proponent. Gavin/Solmonese served as Liquidating Trustee, pursuing causes of action on behalf of unsecured creditors to further increase their recoveries in this landmark case.
Gavin/Solmonese is often engaged by lender groups. In one recent situation, we advised one of the country’s largest lenders in connection with its loans to a candy manufacturer in the southern United States. The borrower had filed bankruptcy without notifying the lender, and its main shareholder was seeking to inject new funds in a dramatic move to prime the DIP lender.
Since the debtor lacked a financial advisor charged with providing profitability and cash flow analysis, Gavin/Solmonese shared its own analysis with the debtor, leading the company to shut down unprofitable operations. Gavin/Solmonese analysis and bankruptcy court expert-witness testimony successfully supported the lender’s claims, after which we helped the lender with the sale of the business assets.
In the largest retail bankruptcy liquidation in history, Gavin/Solmonese served as plan administrator, appointed by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors as part of their plan, filed to challenge the Debtors’ plan. The debtor was at the stage of plan confirmation, where the court evaluates and approves the restructuring plan. Throughout the case, tensions were high, as the process was marked by an adversarial relationship between the debtor and the creditors’ committee, each side advocating strongly for its interests. With few employees remaining at the company and a short deadline for research, Gavin/Solmonese completed an 88-page transition punch list and located, identified, and preserved valuable data in support of the committee’s litigation against the secured lender—all within 45 days. In this engagement, Gavin/Solmonese:
Facing a liquidity crisis and fraught relationship with its secured lender, Punch Bowl Social engaged Gavin/Solmonese as Chief Restructuring Officer the day it filed Chapter 11. Gavin/Solmonese quickly established its credibility and independence with the secured lender, creditors and management, ran a marketing process for debtor-in-possession financing, and led the chapter 11 case through retention of an investment banker and running a fulsome sale process that resulted in satisfaction of the secured lender’s debt, rejection of unprofitable retail location leases, a streamlined balance sheet and profitable operations and the preservation of jobs – all with an exit from bankruptcy in four months.
Gavin/Solmonese advised the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Broadstripe, LLC, a large regional cable and telephone provider. Gavin/Solmonese researched potential claims and causes of action against the secured lender; provided an expert report showing valuation and insolvency at the time of insider transactions; and supported committee counsel in litigation that ultimately led to a settlement accepted by the committee for multiples greater than unsecured creditors would have received under a plan. Gavin/Solmonese was then selected to serve as the liquidating trustee to rapidly distribute funds to unsecured creditors.
Gavin/Solmonese served as financial advisor to a fiber optics telecommunications company in Chapter 11. The Gavin/Solmonese team helped the company prepare a plan of reorganization and performed due diligence on plan viability—then presented the plan to the Creditors’ Committee and obtained their support. G/S also assisted the raise of $3.5 million in venture capital equity to fund the plan, ultimately obtaining plan confirmation from the bankruptcy court.