Features

Featured in Unpacked

GRR investigates how the Australian parent of a Congolese copper miner became the first company in the common law world to implement a guarantor’s scheme of arrangement, against a “well-funded, well-advised” opposing creditor and where restructuring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or England was deemed possible, but impractical.

12 February 2021

Featured in Heads-Up

“There's a lot of dry capital sitting there waiting to be used”. Head of Webber Wentzel’s restructuring and insolvency team Khurshid Fazel tells GRR about opportunities in the distressed M&A space in Africa, how her views on globalisation have changed, and why she thinks firms that commoditise parts of their offering are going to get an edge in the future.

05 February 2021

To say the least, 2020 was a tumultuous year and its effects will be felt economically and socially for many years to come. Although 2021 promises some improvement, disruption seems inevitable. Given the many unknowns lying ahead, partners John Whiteoak and Kevin Pullen at Herbert Smith Freehills have compiled a list of themes for GRR readers to look out for in the UK in the coming year.

04 February 2021

Featured in Heads-Up

“The hunt for talent is a challenge at the moment within the restructuring sector. Purely because people are either already busy or expecting to get busier in the year to come.” David Fleming, the head of Duff & Phelps’ UK advisory team, spoke to GRR in December, soon after news broke that its global restructuring advisory practice was acquiring Hong-Kong headquartered Borelli Walsh. With at least four senior hires in the UK, a new office in Sydney and expansion in the Middle East and New York in 2020 too, we asked Fleming for his thoughts on the firm’s year ahead.

12 January 2021

Following news that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is planning to take action against collapsed construction giant Carillion and some of its former directors, Signature Litigation partners Abdulali Jiwaji and Paul Brehony and professional support lawyer Johnny Shearman examine the conflict between the UK’s financial regulatory regime and its insolvency legislation.

11 December 2020

Faced with a US$7 billion level of funded indebtedness, the Digicel group concluded a comprehensive debt restructuring in June 2020 that left its shareholders intact. A key aspect of the restructuring plan was an innovative Bermuda scheme of arrangement that was used as an alternative to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Edward Rance, an associate at Conyers, reports.

23 November 2020

Sequor Law shareholder Leyza Blanco and attorney Christopher Noel discuss the evolving standard to obtain Section 1782 assistance in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and beyond.

20 November 2020

Bob Wessels, professor emeritus of international insolvency law at Leiden University and expert counsel on restructuring and insolvency to the European Commission, and Shuai Guo, PhD at Leiden University, discuss their recent detailed study on the role of confidentiality, secrecy and privilege in corporate insolvency and bank resolution.

16 November 2020

Alexander Wood, a partner at Shearman & Sterling in London whose firm advised on the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s legal and regulatory framework, discusses why parties to regional restructurings and insolvencies should now consider the ADGM regime.

23 October 2020

Partner Stephen Alexander and associate Max Galt of Mourant Ozannes in Jersey acted for Canada-headquartered Lydian International in an application before the Royal Court seeking cross-border insolvency assistance in aid of proceedings before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. They explain why universality and comity principles underpinned the Royal Court’s 9 October decision.

21 October 2020