Insolvency & Restructuring

• Corporate insolvency
• Personal insolvency
• Receiverships
• Administration
• Restructurings (workouts, schemes, CVAs)
• Cross-border insolvency
• Winding-up (contested and public interest)
• Directors’ disqualification
• Avoidance of transactions
• Improper trading and duties and liabilities of directors
• Asset recovery
• Credit and security
• Title-based financing

Some examples of our insolvency and restructuring work includes:

• Reynolds v Stanbury – acting for stylist and influencer, Caroline Stanbury, in a claim about director duties and personal goodwill.
• Dubai Group – restructuring of US$10 billion of external and shareholder debt, with approximately 40+ secured, partially secured and unsecured creditors featuring both conventional and Islamic facilities. Considered one of the most complex restructurings in the Middle East due, among other things, the diversity of creditor groups, each with diverging interests across multiple jurisdictions with multiple guarantors and cross guarantors
• Lehman – Advisory work and proceedings in front of the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator, the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Chancery Division all arising out of the insolvency of the Lehman group. This included advisory work on how the insolvency impacted on the UK pension scheme and regulatory proceedings and on proposed distributions to creditors by various Lehman group companies
• Lafarge Emirates Cement – Restructuring of facilities in the region US$218million with 13 banks in respect of cement plant based in Fujairah and ensuring general compliance with the overriding Dubai Group restructuring
• UPC Polska – Instructed by SISU Capital, the largest public debt holders in New York based Chapter 11 restructuring and litigation proceedings against UPC Polska Inc, Poland’s largest cable television company (US$450 million of bond debt)
• Welcome Break – Instructed by Ad Hoc Committee of B noteholders in the proposed restructuring of national motorway service station provider – Welcome Break plc (£367 million of bond debt)
• Thomas Cook (in liquidation) – Acting for creditors in relation to assignment of rights against third party suppliers
• Renault SAS – Instructed by Renault in their capacity as creditors in the context of commercial claims against debtors in receivership and administration proceedings
• Cirio Del Monte – Instructed by Ad Hoc Committee of Unsecured Noteholders in the proposed restructuring of Cirio Del Monte, an Italian based food group with public debt totalling €1,400,000,000
• International arbitration proceedings (arising out of a long term coal charterparty (LMAA rules)) – Successfully resisting a challenge to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal based on the Respondent’s involvement in Singapore Court insolvency procedures
• Granada Rental & Retail Ltd v The Pensions Regulator – A leading authority on ‘connection and association’ under the insolvency legislation and on the interpretation of voting control provisions under debentures
• Bloom & Others v Pensions Regulator – The landmark case in the Supreme Court on the basis on which a liability should be characterised as a provable debt (ranking pari passu with other unsecured creditors) or as an expense of the administration (ranking ahead of unsecured creditors)
• Re Storm Funding (In administration) – A leading authority on ‘double dipping’, i.e. the general principle that a creditor cannot recover more than 100% of what is in substance the same debt from two estates
• Gate Gourmet Luxembourg IV SARL v Morby & Other Related Action – Three related commercial and insolvency matters in the Chancery Division arising out of disputes between companies over alleged breaches of warranty in a share purchase agreement, breaches of fiduciary duty and trust by company directors and preferential payments.
• MTIC frauds – Substantial, complex MTIC frauds involving extensive and intricate networks of companies.
• Afren v Shahenshah – Instructed by the administrators of former FTSE 250 company in $1 billion fraud claim against inter alia CEO and COO.
• FSCS v Harlequin – Advising the Financial Services Compensation Scheme regarding the assignment of interests in an insolvent company’s assets under a SIPP
• Bradstock Group Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd v Bradstock Group Plc – The landmark case concerning the extent to which statutory debts under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 can be compromised by trustees in the face of impending insolvency, without impermissibly seeking to ‘contract out’ of that legislation
• Tresartis – advising a significant offshore special situations fund on the establishment of a litigation funder

The team includes members of COMBAR (Commercial Bar Association), Chancery Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Law Council of Australia, London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association,
Andrew Spink KC is immediate past Chair of COMBAR and a Deputy High Court Judge sitting in the King’s Bench and Chancery Divisions.

The team boasts a number of members ranked in both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. Please view our barrister profiles for ranking details on individuals.

Outer Temple Chambers is a global set and the commercial team has vast experience of international litigation, with professional associates and door tenants based around the world. Our services include advisory work, advocacy and representation in courts and tribunals around the world. We also offer international mediation, arbitration, and early neutral evaluation (ENE) where we provide an impartial assessment of the merits of your case before legal proceedings.

Various members are qualified to practice in other jurisdictions including USA, Ireland, Middle East and Australia.

Find out more about our global commercial team here.