For its work on the restructurings of GNC and Tuesday Morning, A&G Real Estate Partners was among the winners of The M&A Advisor’s 15th-Annual Turnaround Awards.
 
It was the third such award presented to A&G—an advisory firm specializing in lease restructuring, real estate sales and auctions nationwide—for its work on Tuesday Morning, and the second such recognition of the firm’s role in the restructuring of GNC. (Those prior awards came from the Global M&A Network and the Turnaround Management Association.)  
 
The M&A Advisor’s 15th-Annual Turnaround Awards recognize those deals “that reached the pinnacle of the distressed investing, bankruptcy, and restructuring industry over the past year,” according to the New York-based publisher.
 
On GNC’s turnaround, A&G teamed with GNC executives and the company’s financial advisors to adjust strategy and goals post-bankruptcy filing. In the end, A&G restructured more than 1,175 leases, saving $170 million. GNC successfully exited bankruptcy through a $770 million sale to China-based Harbin Pharmaceutical Group.
 
“We faced a rapidly changing retail landscape—especially due to COVID-19’s impact on enclosed malls,” noted  Andrew Graiser, Co-President of A&G .“The adjusted strategy and subsequent messaging to the landlord community kept locations open and jobs saved. We’re extremely proud of our team and all the other stakeholders in the GNC process for their extraordinary dedication and hard work.”
 
The GNC restructuring won in the category of “Cross-Border Restructuring of the Year” ($500MM to $1B). The M&A Advisor also recognized deal contributors FTI Consulting; Milbank; Houlihan Lokey; Paul Weiss; Latham & Watkins; AlixPartners; Berkeley Research Group (BRG); Young Conway; Evercore; White & Case LLP; Junhe LLP; Lowenstein Sandler; and Grandall LLP.
 
Tuesday Morning, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020, announced this past January that it had successfully completed its financial and operational reorganization and emerged from Chapter 11. A&G spearheaded the off-price retailer’s efforts to optimize its real estate portfolio and emerge with 490 of its top-performing stores. That included huddling with Tuesday Morning’s management and landlords to successfully restructure those go-forward leases and generate aggregate rent savings of approximately $75 million.
 
“We are pleased to have been part of this well-coordinated, multidisciplinary team effort, and are grateful for the impact that this project has had in the turnaround and restructuring community,” said  Graiser. “The stakeholders here all understood one of the fundamentals of our approach at A&G—namely, that maximizing real estate is absolutely essential to the success of any retail restructuring.”
 
The Tuesday Morning restructuring won in the category of “Turnaround of the Year” (UNDER $100MM). The M&A Advisor also recognized deal contributors Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones; Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads; AlixPartners; Haynes Boone; PJ Solomon; Stifel; Vinson & Elkins; and Berkeley Research Group (BRG)
 
The awards will be presented during a Gala dinner celebration during the Distressed Investing Summit in New York City on Wed., Sept. 29.