2026 Playbook: AI disruption, LME & Chapter 11 trends

In this episode of the Debtwired Podcast, host Madalina Iacob is joined by Wariz Anifowoshe, Head of Restructuring at Fortress Investment Group, Kevin Fortunato, Portfolio Manager at Benefit Street Partners, and Scott Greenberg, Global Head of Restructuring at Gibson Dunn. A central theme of the discussion is AI-driven disruption, particularly in software, and how investors are positioning defensively while selectively hunting for opportunities. Panelists emphasize that AI risk is already reshaping maturity extensions, underwriting assumptions, and liability management decisions, especially for businesses facing rapid technological change. The group also explores what’s driving the unprecedented speed at which loans are trading down from CLO technicals, group-formation risk, and growing familiarity with liability management exercises (LMEs). Speakers expect both more LMEs and an uptick in Chapter 11 filings this year, including failed LMEs from prior vintages where balance sheets were fixed, but businesses were not. They unpack why LMEs are neither inherently successes nor failures, why every situation is bespoke, and how sponsors and not creditors typically set these processes in motion. Finally, the speakers conclude that cooperation agreements (co-ops) remain an essential and widely used tool for collective creditor action, and there has been no meaningful slowdown in their use since Optimum filed an anti-co-op lawsuit against its creditors.