A company has too much debt. What are its options at a high level?

How to answer

Two buckets. Out-of-court: amend-and-extend (push maturities for a fee/higher coupon), a distressed/discount exchange (swap old debt for less new debt), or an LME (uptier/drop-down) — cheaper and faster but generally needs near-unanimous consent because changing principal/interest/maturity on bonds is a 'sacred right.' In-court (Chapter 11): a 363 asset sale or a plan of reorganization — expensive and public, but binds holdout creditors via cramdown. The core trade-off is consent (out-of-court) versus the ability to bind dissenters (in-court).

Key idea: Out-of-court (consent, cheap) vs. in-court (cramdown, binds holdouts).