Our insolvency team provides a full range of services to IPs, drawing on specialist lawyers from across the firm as appropriate. We provide a seamless service on cross border insolvencies working with colleagues in our Dublin office. In addition, as several of our team hold practicing certificates in England and Wales, we can act in relation to GB matters. All of our lawyers are familiar with insolvency concepts and the needs of the insolvency practitioner.

We are mindful of the need to deal with competing creditors, directors responsible for the distressed business and of the goal of promoting rescue and recovery. We understand the benefits of preserving a business and have a strong track record of pre-packaged sales of insolvent businesses within the current economic downturn.

Distressed Businesses

We provide advice and support on: business reorganisations and schemes of arrangement; turnaround, workouts and wind downs; company voluntary arrangements; debt restructuring; refinancing; business sales and MBOs; insolvency options; and director’s responsibilities and duties.

Lenders

Our business recovery and insolvency group regularly advises lenders where a borrower gets into financial difficulty and can provide advice on: security enforcement; refinancing; debt recovery; insolvency; disposals and MBOs; insolvency procedures.

Creditors

We advise on:

• Administrations, receiverships, administrative receiverships, liquidations
• Actions of directors of distressed businesses
• Constructive trusts and tracing claims
• Corporate restructuring and reorganisations
• Cross border insolvency
• Debt recovery and rescheduling, investor and lender security, creditors & retention of title
• Turnarounds
• Disposals including pre-pack sales and MBOs
• Employment issues
• Insolvency related litigation
• Property issues

Relevant Experience

• Work out of a plc listed in 5 jurisdictions. The work was complex and included: standstill arrangements; bond restructuring; restructuring of a syndicated facility; rights issues; negotiations with hedge counterparties; and equity for debt swaps
• Debt restructuring, refinancing, disposal of non-core activities and advice to the main board directors of a listed plc
• Working with turn-around experts in relation to several financially distressed businesses, including advising on contractual, security, funding, debt and structural issues
• Advising on redundancy, recruitment and staff retention during difficult trading conditions
• Advised on mass changes to the terms and conditions of its Northern Irish based employees, necessitating a complete restructuring of grades, pay structures and working hours. Also advising on the trade union negotiations regarding the same
• Advised a large retail client on a complex series of TUPE transfers, mass changes to terms and conditions, collective redundancies and outsourcing of functions
• Advised Northern Bank Limited and Bank of Ireland in relation to the standstill agreement, work out, security and the ultimate receivership of Lamont Holdings Limited
• Advised Ulster Bank Limited, Ulster Bank Ireland Limited and The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland in relation to their security position and the appointment of administrators to the Taggart Holdings Group of Companies