Our insolvency and restructuring practice have experience working on a wide range of domestic and cross-border corporate restructuring and insolvency matters, including advisory, transactional and contentious work.
Such work comprises of advising and representing board of directors (particularly in relation to their needs and duties when a company is in financial trouble), debtors, bondholders, unsecured and secured creditors (especially those seeking to protect their position and ensuring their returns are maximised), officeholders, banks and other financial institutions, and other sources of financing and parties interested in acquiring distressed assets and businesses.
Our national and international work and client base has enabled us to work, and focus, on formal insolvencies as well as out of court restructurings of financially troubled companies. This has included but not limited to working and advising on administrations, liquidations, scheme of arrangements and company voluntary arrangements.
Our insolvency and restructuring practice has a particular focus on the automotive, food manufacturing, financial services, real estate, oil and gas and retail and leisure sectors.
Insolvency Related work:
- Advised Alteri Investors on (a) its purchase of Benson for Beds and Harveys Furniture group from Steinhoff International and (b) its subsequent pre-packaged administration sale of Benson for Beds.
- Advised Jack Wills and its administrators from KPMG on the restructuring and pre-packaged administration sale of the Jack Wills business to Sports Direct.
- Advised the administrators of CX Reinsurance Company Limited (in administration) from Ernst & Young, particularly in connection with obtaining recognition of the UK administration proceedings in the US pursuant to Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code.
- Advised a group of US based landlords in relation to the Arcadia group restructuring.
- Advised the board of the Gaucho restaurant group in respect of its restructuring efforts.
- Advised the board of the Powerleague group in connection with its restructuring.
- Advised Pinnacle Foods, and the board of Boulder Brands, in respect of Boulder Brands members voluntary liquidation in the UK.
- Advised Centerbridge, LP in its role as an anchor investor as part of a syndicate that provided in excess of US $ 1 billion new money investment in relation to the restructuring of Seadrill Limited. This deal was awarded the “Restructuring Deal of the Year” at the Deal Awards 2019.
- Advised Northwood Investors in its loan purchases from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation and the connected acquisitions and restructurings of the Four Seasons Hotel (Prague), the Diagonal Mar Shopping Center (Barcelona), and the Heuston South Quarter offices (Dublin).
- Advising a large multinational automotive group in relation to its worldwide group debt restructuring, liability management, and operational reorganisation.
- Acted for Sberbank successfully in a challenge against an application made to the High Court and the Court of Appeal by the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), in accordance with which the IBA sought an order from the English Courts for a permanent moratorium against creditor action in England and Wales, following IBA’s voluntary restructuring in Azerbaijan.
- Acted for Bank of America successfully in the Titan (Libra/NHP) securitisation litigation in connection with the identity of the Controlling Party and Special Servicer termination.
