Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency Legal Services

Dealing with financial distress is often complex, challenging and time critical. 

Having access to an experienced and specialist legal team which is responsive, commercially minded and quick thinking can make a real difference to the outcome of your situation.

Our corporate restructuring & insolvency expertise

We have the expertise to offer specialist insolvency and restructuring advice and the ability to provide tailored solutions to your complex issues.

Whether you are an insolvency practitioner, lender, financial institution, company, director or other stakeholder, we can assist you with the full range of restructuring advisory and contentious insolvency services in multiple jurisdictions including the UK and countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Among the issues we advise on are:

Our restructuring and advisory services

Advisory Services

Advisory services encompass pre-formal insolvency advice and planning, offering companies strategies to manage financial distress before entering formal insolvency procedures. This includes counselling directors on their legal responsibilities and potential personal liabilities, ensuring they navigate the complexities of a distressed company with due diligence. Additionally, security reviews on existing or proposed loans are critical, assessing the robustness of security interests to safeguard lending arrangements, especially in the face of potential insolvency scenarios.

Restructuring Solutions

Restructuring solutions involve reorganising the structures of solvent and insolvent companies to improve profitability or efficiency. In the UK, this can include processes like Company (or Individual) Voluntary Arrangements, schemes of arrangement and restructuring plans, as well as informal work-outs and restructurings, which allow for debt repayment agreements with creditors as a means of rescuing and rehabilitating businesses (whilst avoiding formal insolvency processes).

Formal Insolvency Proceedings

Formal insolvency proceedings are a suite of legal processes including administrations, liquidations, and bankruptcies. These are usually conducted under the control of a licensed insolvency professional who takes over and manages the company's or individual's affairs for the benefit of the creditors. Additionally, Law of Property Act 1925 and other fixed charge receiverships involve the appointment of a receiver by a secured creditor to manage specific assets under a fixed charge.

Cross-Border Insolvency

Cross-border insolvency services address the complexities arising from debtors with assets and creditors in multiple countries. Cross-border cases invariably involve determining the best/appropriate jurisdictions in which to restructure a debtor’s affairs or to seek to recover assets, and then execute on those strategies utilising the legal frameworks in those jurisdictions.  

Acquisition and Investment

The acquisition and investment segment focuses on the strategic acquisition of businesses and assets from insolvent and other distressed entities,. This service also provides tailored advice to investors looking at distressed or insolvent companies, helping them to identify and navigate potential investment opportunities.

Real Estate Insolvency

Real estate insolvency services deal with the unique challenges posed by tenant insolvency and other property-related financial distress. This involves addressing the consequences of insolvency within the real estate sector, ensuring that the interests of property owners, lenders and other stakeholders are managed effectively during such events.

Our dispute resolution legal services

Litigation and Recovery Actions

Litigation and recovery actions are pivotal in corporate restructuring and insolvency, involving legal proceedings to recover debts or assets owed to an insolvent entity. These services include pursuing court actions against those who owe the company money or who have misappropriated company assets. Legal experts work to obtain and enforce judgments, secure assets, and maximize returns to creditors. They navigate complex legal frameworks to ensure that the rights of the insolvent estate are upheld, and any outstanding obligations are met, often under challenging and time-sensitive conditions. Similarly, we will often act in the defence of such claims.

Asset Tracing

Asset tracing is a critical service in insolvency cases, particularly when assets have been fraudulently transferred or hidden to avoid creditor claims. Specialists in this field employ forensic techniques to locate and recover assets across jurisdictions. This process often involves intricate investigations, analysis of financial transactions, and collaboration with international networks to pierce through layers of concealment. The goal is to identify and repatriate assets for the benefit of the creditors, ensuring that no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of justice and equitable distribution.

Claims Against Directors and Directors’ Disqualification Proceedings

In many formal insolvency processes, one of the roles of the appointed officeholders will be to investigate the conduct of the company’s management in the lead up to its insolvency, and where appropriate to pursue claims against those (and other) parties in relation to that conduct. We act on behalf of officeholders in the pursuit of those claims, as well as for those against whom allegations and claims are made.  

Directors' disqualification proceedings are a means of sanctioning  directors who have failed to fulfil their fiduciary and statutory duties or have engaged in misconduct leading to a company's insolvency. Such actions often follow the investigation and presentation of evidence to the court to demonstrate that a director's conduct was unfit. The outcome can result in disqualification from holding directorial positions for a specified period, protecting the public and the business community from future harm. We regularly act on behalf of company directors in the defence of such action.

Litigation Funding Considerations

The cost of resolving disputes can be one of the biggest concerns for businesses and individuals and can be determinative of the viability of pursuing a legal claim. If you’re based in the UK or the Middle East, we can utilise our bespoke litigation funding product, Feesible, to offer you a variety of ways to structure the funding of claims, where risk can often be mitigated and managed between us.

If you would like to talk to our team about how we can help, we would be happy to discuss your particular  situation  and identify the best route forward.