Our Restructuring and Insolvency team is one of the largest and most highly rated in the Irish legal market today. We have acted for stakeholders in many of the high profile and complex insolvencies in Ireland over the last decade.
We act extensively for both international and Irish banks, for insolvency practitioners, both domestic and international, and we routinely assist in the sale or purchase of distressed assets either in a restructuring or through formal processes.
We have developed a strong reputation in advising clients on examinership matters and all aspects of Ireland's corporate rescue regime.
Our practice extends to advising bondholders and other debt providers as well as general creditors and shareholders in distressed situations.
We advise directors in connection with managing insolvency risk, reducing the risk of personal liability and in respect of investigations by the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
Our Services
We advise clients on
- All insolvency procedures including examinership (Ireland's corporate rescue regime) and bankruptcy
- Insolvency risk
- Insolvency related disputes
- Restructuring and reorganisation of businesses
- Obligations of directors, shareholders and creditors of entities in financial difficulty
Recommendations
Chambers & Partners, 2020
The team has the "ability to understand our requirements and challenges, and outline potential options".
Legal 500, 2020
The team "balance an assertive style with very carefully considered legal advice".
Chambers & Partners, 2019
Distinguished disputes practice renowned for “level of expertise, attention to detail, compassion, support and understanding are second to none."
Chambers & Partners, 2019
“Client service is consistent, efficient, responsive and commercially pragmatic”.
Legal 500, 2019
“Personal service, integrity, and commercial and practical advice”.
Recent Work
- Advising the liquidator of Coast Stores Ireland Limited (in liquidation).
- Advising the Dixons Group in the orderly wind down of its mobile telephone business in Ireland.
- Lead advisor to Permanent TSB on its loan deleveraging programme which has resulted in the reduction of PTSB’s NPE ratio to 7% from a high of 26%. The €2.1bn Project Glas was the largest nonperforming loan sale of its kind in the Irish market
- Provided detailed advices to Lone Star Funds for the Project Clear loan portfolio acquisition (par value of €2 billion). Specifically, we advised on an extensive due diligence exercise and on possible enforcement options and risk analysis.
- Advised and assisted extensively Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority in its new remit under the Companies Act 2014 (“2014 Act”) in relation to the regulation of liquidators.
- Advising a number of high-profile US private equity funds in some of the largest loan portfolio acquisitions in the Irish market. This involves advising on all aspects of the acquisition, including providing advices around possible enforcement options and risk analysis
- Acted for Invesco Real Estate Fund in the examinership of Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Limited. The entity is the owner of a large shopping centre in Dublin city where Debenhams is an anchor tenant. In the course of the examinership, Debenhams sought to repudiate the lease of the premises (as well as leases of a number of its other premises). We successfully advised the client throughout the process and ultimately avoided the lease of a key anchor tenant being repudiated.
- Advising on multiple large scale receivership projects, involving numerous portfolios of residential and mixed use commercial investment properties for multiple lenders, arising from distressed loans with a combined value of €3 billion.
- Advising the joint liquidators of the Waypoint Helicopter Leasing group.
- Advised SCISYS Group on CGI Group Holdings Europe's £79.8m takeover bid and its implementation by way of a court sanctioned scheme of arrangement
- Advised the McGettigan Group in securing an investment from Broadhaven to re-organise the group, incorporate a reasury function and refinance loans held by Oaktree as well as discharging costs of a related examinership and discharge all related creditors.
- Advising the liquidator of the Doonbeg Group.
- Acted as lead counsel to SteriPack Group on loan facilities provided by AIB as part of a complex overall group restructuring and growth recapitalisation by Great Point Partners, a private investment firm focused on the health care industry
