Interviews

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“It is quite plain that we are not going to go back to anything like where we were two months ago.” Pinsent Masons partner Nick Pike tells GRR why he thinks consumer demand will take years to recover from the covid-19 crisis, how the UK government’s emergency measures have staved off an immediate wave of insolvencies, and why working from home might become the new normal.

24 April 2020

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“At some point, if they want to start trading again, they are going to need money to rehire their employees and start paying suppliers, and it’s not clear to us how they will get that money”. Slaughter and May’s head of restructuring Ian Johnson and partner Tom Vickers tell GRR about their work advising the UK government on some of its initiatives to deal with the impact of covid-19, the difficulty companies are having trying to access urgent liquidity, and their hopes for the introduction of a new debtor-in-possession financing tool.

23 April 2020

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“The economic legacy is going to be around the excess debt that companies and governments have taken on… that will take a long, long time to pay off." Ashurst's head of restructuring and special situations, Giles Boothman, tells GRR the UK’s economic standstill is bringing restructuring enquires in waves, as clients find it harder to seek liquidity from financial institutions, perform due diligence and find other solutions to restore balance sheet health.

22 April 2020

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“While our clients are obviously interested in maximising returns for investors, they are also respectful of the fact that countries like Ecuador have to address the incipient public health crisis that is presented by covid-19.” Quinn Emanuel’s Susheel Kirpalani and Dennis Hranitzky discuss the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on sovereign debt workouts in Argentina and Ecuador, and how the US response to the crisis has been marred by political enmities between federal and state governments.

21 April 2020

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“It is easy to think that things will never be the same, but history repeats itself.” Co-chair of Debevoise & Plimpton’s restructuring group Natasha Labovitz discusses the limitations stopping some businesses from accessing government relief programs, how Debevoise solicited the advice of an epidemiologist to prepare for covid-19, and why US bankruptcy courts might be some of the most innovative courts in the country.

20 April 2020

Featured in Covid-19 calls

“I think the long-term effects of covid-19 are not necessarily all bad. The businesses that are not inherently viable may not emerge unscathed.” In the first of a new series investigating how law and advisory firms are dealing with covid-19 and preparing for the longer-term effects, GRR speaks to WongPartnership partner Smitha Menon in Singapore.

16 April 2020

Moore Recovery UK partner Duncan Swift, president of British insolvency trade body R3, tells GRR about the impact Brexit may have on the UK restructuring industry, as well as his concerns about recent government proposals on airline insolvency and crown preferential status.

05 March 2020

Featured in Heads-Up

“If you can use your ingenuity to identify how stakeholders will benefit from the restructuring, you will get past the lack of a legal framework.” Offshore firm Harneys’ Asia managing partner Ian Mann and head of restructuring in Asia Chai Ridgers speak to GRR about China Agrotech, commodities and restructuring without a cross-border framework in Asia.

18 February 2020

Featured in Heads-Up

“It is a confidence game. We sell confidence.” Baker McKenzie’s restructuring and insolvency chair Debra Dandeneau speaks to GRR about the rise of private equity in restructurings, why lawyers need to think about harnessing technology, and how receiverships are being used to create a “shadow bankruptcy process” in the US.

20 December 2019

Featured in Heads-Up

“While India seems ripe with a lot of opportunity, there’s also a feeling that China is primed for a wave of restructurings": The co-head of Ropes & Gray’s restructuring practice Stephen Moeller-Sally talks to GRR about the professionalisation of distressed investing, the challenge of managing tensions in creditor groups, and why he believes foreign funds are going to be more active in US restructurings.

12 November 2019