Christopher T. Nicholls

Christopher Nicholls is the Telecom, Media & Technology (“TMT”) Restructuring Leader and head of the New York TMT office. He is also a founding member of FTI Capital Advisors, the firm’s wholly owned investment banking subsidiary. Mr. Nicholls has over 30 years of experience in restructuring, M&A, interim management, business turnaround, business plan development, litigation support and valuation.

Since joining FTI Consulting in 2005, Mr. Nicholls has led some of the firm’s largest and most complex engagements. Mr. Nicholls has assessed the current operations and business strategies of companies in telecom. equipment, software, radio, publishing,, digital media and entertainment. Some of the companies that Mr. Nicholls has worked with include Sungard, TPx, Intelsat, Interface Security, Frontier, Windstream, LSC Communications, Avaya, Interface Security, iHeart, Cumulus Media, Frontpoint Security, Spanish Broadcasting, Cenveo, Cengage, Tribune Media, Digital First, MediaNews, Reader’s Digest, Source Interlink, SFX Entertainment, McLeod, One Communications, Broadview, XO, Sage Telecom, Allegiance Telecom and Level 3.

Mr. Nicholls has led over 80 restructurings, both in and out of Chapter 11. He focuses on balance sheet and operational turnarounds, litigation support, valuation and M&A. He has advised on numerous pre-packaged, pre-arranged and free-fall bankruptcies. He is an expert in all aspects of restructuring, including plan structuring and negotiation, 363 sales, exit financing, DIP loans, amendments, tenders and exchanges. His experience includes representing secured lenders, unsecured creditors and companies. He also has served as Chief Restructuring Officer and Interim CEO. Mr. Nicholls has led a range of special situations and non-distressed investment banking engagements, including buy-side and sell-side transactions, and has rendered fairness and solvency opinions. Various transactions he has worked on include the 363 sales of Sungard, Freedom Communications, Standard Register, Philadelphia Newspaper Group, the international subsidiaries of Reader’s Digest and the sale of Allegiance Telecom.

Mr. Nicholls' notable expert witness testimony includes representing the $3 billion Bell Canada Bondholder group, as an expert witness in litigation matters pertaining to the larges attempted leveraged buyout in corporate history, testifying on valuation and damages. He has represented bondholders and other constituents in numerous litigations and has been qualified as an expert witness in the U.S. and Canada.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Nicholls spent nine years in GE Capital’s Structured Finance and Corporate Lending groups, where he helped to substantially grow investments under management and was ultimately head of the telecom risk management team. In this role, he was responsible for evaluating credit risk, pricing and underwriting loans, portfolio management and performing quarterly portfolio reviews and valuations. Mr. Nicholls managed a $1.5 billion portfolio, was responsible for making $2.5 billion in loans and equity investments, led restructurings and recapitalizations totaling over $10 billion and was a principal in many M&A transactions. He also served on the boards of directors of a number of GE’s portfolio companies. Prior to GE, Mr. Nicholls was at Merrill Lynch as a vice president in fixed income capital markets and investment banking. In his role, he advised clients on bond and preferred stock issuance, indenture modifications, M&A and general corporate finance. Mr. Nicholls started his corporate finance career at Morgan Stanley in 1986, in the fixed income bond department.