Intercreditor Agreements: How Far Can They Reach?

Can a senior secured lender require, through an inter-creditor agreement, that a junior lender relinquish the junior’s rights under the Bankruptcy Code vis á vis a common debtor?

Though the practice is a common one, the answer to this question is not clear-cut.  Bankruptcy Courts addressing this issue have come down on both sides, some holding “yea,” and others “nay.”  Late last year, the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court sided with the “nays” in In re SW Boston Hotel Venture, LLC, 460 B.R. 38 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2011).

The decision (available here) acknowledges and cites case law on either side of the issue.  It further highlights the reality that lenders employing the protective practice of an inter-creditor agreement as a “hedge” against the debtor’s potential future bankruptcy may not be as well-protected as they might otherwise believe.

In light of this uncertainty, do lenders have other means of protection?  One suggested (but, as yet, untested) method is to take the senior lender’s bankruptcy-related protections out of the agreement, and provide instead that in the event of the debtor’s filing, the junior’s claim will be automatically assigned to the senior creditor, re-vesting in the junior creditor once the senior’s claim has been paid in full.