Insolvency & Restructuring
Anticipating difficulties, seizing growth opportunities, restructuring businesses and driving turnaround.
Anticipating difficulties, seizing growth opportunities, restructuring businesses and driving turnaround.
Companies facing financial difficulties are facing increasingly complex economic, financial, industrial and regulatory challenges. Our Restructuring & Insolvency team assists managers, shareholders, creditors, investors and acquirers in preventing and addressing financial difficulties, restructuring or acquiring businesses, and implementing solutions tailored to restore performance and ensure long-term recovery.
Anticipating distress to preserve the enterprise value
Over the past years, deep structural and economic mutations, digital transformation, ecological transition, evolving consumer behaviour, rising raw material and energy costs, and inflationary and geopolitical pressures have compelled many businesses to adapt their business models. In this environment, anticipation is the key to a successful transformation.
Whether advising a company facing financial or operational difficulties, a creditor seeking to protect its interests, an investor involved in a turnaround situation or a purchaser considering a strategic acquisition, each matter requires a comprehensive assessment of legal, financial and operational issues within a very short timeframe.
Our Restructuring & Insolvency team is organised to support debtors, creditors and acquirers from the earliest signs of distress, helping them identify the most appropriate tools, including mandat ad hoc proceedings, conciliation proceedings, financial or operational restructuring, debt renegotiation and the implementation of new financing solutions.
For debtors, the goal is to restore strategic flexibility and preserve long-term value. For creditors, the focus is on mitigating contagion risk and protecting their position as soon as possible. For acquirers, distressed situations can offer some of the most attractive strategic acquisition opportunities, provided they are dealt with quickly and effectively.
Because every situation is unique, we adopt a pragmatic and tailor-made approach based on a in-depth understanding of the relevant industry sector, financing constraints, company-specific challenges and close collaboration with restructuring and insolvency professionals, financial stakeholders and court-appointed officers.
A full restructuring & Insolvency Expertise
Our team advises clients at every stage of a company's financial difficulties, through both consensual restructuring processes and formal insolvency proceedings.
We assist clients in implementing ad hoc mandates (mandat ad hoc) and conciliation proceedings, enabling debt renegotiations, the entry of new investors, the arrangement of new-money financing and the implementation of original restructuring transactions within a confidential framework.
We also advise in safeguard proceedings (sauvegarde), judicial reorganisation proceedings (redressement judiciaire) and winding-down (liquidation judiciaire). Our team represents distressed companies, their management, creditors and prospective purchasers in the development and implementation of reorganisation plans, business transfer plans and distressed acquisitions.
One of the firm's key strengths lies in its ability to quickly mobilise the multidisciplinary expertise required for the most complex situations. Our Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A, Real Estate, Employment, Tax, Environmental and Competition Law teams regularly work alongside our Restructuring & Insolvency practice to provide coordinated and effective solutions.
This integrated approach enables us to advise on distressed M&A transactions, group restructurings, emergency financing arrangements, the corporate aspects of financial restructurings and matters involving creditors and regulatory authorities.
A Team Dedicated to the turnaround of the company
Led by Alexandre Bastos, founding partner and head of the firm's Restructuring & Insolvency practice in France, the team is composed of experienced lawyers accustomed to advising in high-pressure situations involving significant economic and strategic issues.
We advise businesses of all sizes, international groups, investors, financial institutions and shareholders.
Our conviction is simple: anticipation is the keystone of a successful turnaround. Whether securing a financial restructuring, implementing a safeguard plan, preparing a business acquisition or managing a crisis exit strategy, we work closely with our clients to develop bespoke solutions aligned with their strategic objectives and business environment.
Credentials
- CMS Francis Lefebvre advised the acquirers of Naïo Technologies, a pioneer in the development of autonomous agricultural robots. The transaction forms part of an initiative led by the Occitanie Region alongside the Regional Strategic Investment Agency (ARIS), asset manager Mirova and Bpifrance.
- CMS Francis Lefebvre advised Bordeaux Métropole on the transfer to public management of the Matmut Atlantique stadium from Stade Bordeaux Atlantique (SBA), the private operator that had managed the facility since its inauguration ten years earlier under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
- CMS Francis Lefebvre, adviser to Condat Solutions, a subsidiary of the SPB Group In connection with the takeover of Papeteries de Condat.
- CMS Francis Lefebvre advised SISCA on its strategic partnership with the POMPAC Group, which acquired a 51% shareholding in the company. Authorized by the French Competition Authority, the transaction brought together two leading and complementary family-owned groups with a view to jointly developing their respective activities.
- CMS Francis Lefebvre advised the sellers in the acquisition by Stepak Bourdin of Le Nappage and Sodipan Table, two French environmentally responsible companies specialising in the manufacture of paper tablecloths and napkins.
FAQs
Amicable proceedings may be implemented when a company is facing actual or foreseeable legal, economic or financial difficulties that have not yet irreversibly compromised its viability. They provide a confidential framework for negotiating with key creditors and stakeholders in order to facilitate the restructuring of the business and avoid the opening of formal insolvency proceedings.
Safeguard proceedings (sauvegarde) allow a company to anticipate and address difficulties before it becomes in cessation of its payments, i.e. when it is no longer able to meet its outstanding due debts for lack of cash and liquid assets. Judicial reorganisation (redressement judiciaire) applies when the company is already insolvent but a recovery remains achievable. Winding-down proceedings (liquidation judiciaire) are intended for situations in which the continuation of the business is no longer considered feasible.
A corporate restructuring may involve a range of measures, including debt renegotiation, financial restructuring, operational restructuring, the provision of new financing, the admission of new investors, asset disposals or group reorganisation. The most appropriate solution will depend on the company's financial position, available funding capacity and strategic objectives.
A distressed business may be acquired through either an amicable or judicial process. Such transactions require a thorough assessment of the target's assets, contractual relationships, employment matters, financial position and business prospects. When properly structured, a distressed acquisition can represent a significant external growth opportunity.
A restructuring lawyer advises companies, investors, shareholders and creditors in identifying and implementing solutions designed to prevent or address financial distress. They coordinate the legal, financial, employment and tax aspects of a matter in order to secure decision-making and maximise the prospects of a successful outcome. They also possess extensive experience working alongside restructuring professionals, insolvency practitioners, financial advisers and other turnaround specialists involved in special situations.
Awards & Honors
Our Restructuring & Insolvency team is recognised by leading legal directories, including Legal 500, IFLR1000, Option Droit & Affaires, Best Lawyers and Décideurs Magazine.
- Acting for a wide array of debtors, investors, shareholders and creditors, CMS Francis Lefebvre is able to cover all aspects of restructuring and insolvency proceedings, including cross-border cases. In addition, the team has continued to expand its expertise in distressed M&A. Alexandre Bastos leads the team, and has a strong all-round practice that ranges from preventive procedures to restructurings through safeguard and receivership plans and insolvency-related litigation.
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